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HISTORY OF THE TRANSITION 

FROM 

PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT 

IN MASSACHUSETTS 



BY 

HARRY A. CTJSHING, A. M. 



SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

IN THE 

Faculty of Political Science 
Columbia University 



NEW YORK 
1896 



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CONTENTS 



PAGE 

CHAPTER I. The Period of Transition. 

§ i. The Transition, in General 7 

§ 2. The Transition in Massachusetts 12 

CHAPTER II. Elements of Antagonism in the Provincial 

System. 

CHAPTER III. The End of Provincial Government. 

§ 1. The Mandamus Council 54 

§ 2. Withdrawal of the Royal Executive 61 

§ 3. Local Action in the Summer of 1774 . v 68 

§ 4. End of the Provincial Legislature 76 

§ 5. Closing of the Provincial Courts 84 

CHAPTER IV. Extra-Constitutional Bodies. 

CHAPTER V. The Provincial Congress. 

§ 1. General Review 112 

§ 2. Military Affairs 132 

§ 3. Committee of Safety 139 

§ 4. Economic Affairs 147 

§ 5. Public Finance 151 

§ 6. Relations with the Continental Congress 159 

§ 7. The Change of Government 164 

5 



vi CONTENTS 

PAGB 

CHAPTER VI. The Charter Resumed. 

§ i. Provincial Forms in the Commonwealth 174 

§ 2. The Issues of the Period 184 

CHAPTER VII. The Constitution of 1778. 

§ 1. Preliminary Action 194 

§ 2. Work of the Convention 207 

§ 3. Submission of the Constitution 214 

CHAPTER VIII. The Constitution of 1780. 

§ 1. Preliminary Action 227 

§ 2. Work of the Convention 231 

§ 3. Submission of the Constitution 264 

CHAPTER IX. The Transition Completed. 

NOTE. 

LIST OF TITLES. 



CHAPTER I 

THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION 

§ I. The Transition, in General 

THE American Revolution presents two significant and 
clearly defined series of events. The earlier and not less 
important includes successive attempts to terminate certain 
administrative relations and constituent connections, at- 
tempts which resulted not simply in the temporary cessation 
of governmental relations, but also in the severance of a 
part of the American dependencies from the English empire. 
Almost contemporaneously with these events appeared great 
activity in that work of establishing governments which made 
the earlier effort of the revolutionists effective and its results 
permanent. In what was logically the earlier of these two 
movements, successful revolt annihilated all imperial rela- 
tions. Those who were one day colonists of England, and 
who the next were by their own sweeping and comforting 
philosophy relegated to a " state of nature," 1 began to act, 

1 This theory appears prominently in 1 780. Cf. Oration by Jonathan Mason, Jr., 
at Boston, March 6, 1780: "As a reward for our exertions in the great cause of 
freedom, we are now in the possession of those rights and privileges attendant 
upon the original state of nature, with the opportunity of establishing a govern- 
ment for ourselves, independent upon any nation or people upon earth." Niles, 
Pt inciples and Acts, 46. 

Cf. Oration by Thomas Dawes, Jr., at Boston, March 5, 1781 : "And yet the 
people of Massachusetts have reduced to practice the wonderful theory. A 
numerous people have convened in a state of nature, and, like our ideas of the 
patriarchs, have deputed a few fathers of the land to draw up for them a glorious 
covenant." Ibid., 52. "Johannes in Eremo " published a letter to General 
Gage, June 17, 1775, in which he said: "You also know that those acts of the 
7] 7 



8 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [g 

with a growing self-consciousness, as component parts of 
what was by territorial and geographical arrangement, by- 
race and language, by religion and by political traditions, the 
germ of a new national state. 1 That such was the position 
of the Americans at the time of the Revolution the history of 
the nation has made evident. The striking feature of the con- 
stitutional rearrangement within the nation at its beginning 
was the appearance of the Continental Congress, a body 
among whose acquired functions was recognized the respon- 
s'bility and right to represent that greater body of individuals 
in whom had become vested all those elements and inci- 
dents of national sovereignty which had formerly appertained 
to the king in parliament. That the best and plainest out- 
come of the Revolution was the rise of a new nation is the 
lesson which by the progress of events has been impressed 
upon a people who, by reasoning and by warfare, have been 
made believers in the nationalism of the federalists. 

Yet while to the maturer life of the nation the sentiment 
of nationality born of the Revolution has been of incalculable 
import, it played a relatively less important part in the later 
stages of that movement amid which it first arose. The 

British parliament, which you have avowedly undertaken to carry into execution 
against us by fire and sword, are, in the [sic] own nature and operation, offensive 
acts of hostility against law, English liberty and constitutional government cf the 
nation in general, and against the charter, laws, liberty, property and lives of this 
colony in particular." In the opinion of the writer the enforcement of such acts 
put the inhabitants in a " state of nature," without any connection with the Eng- 
lish king. The taking of arms would no longer be rebellion. Gage was no 
longer governor, and, furthermore, " not only a robber, a murderer and usurper, 
but- a wicked Rebel: . . . ." Essex Gazette, vol. VII., no. 363, July "6-13," 
1775. Cf. Benj. Akin, Dartmouth, July 29, 1774, to Samuel Adams, Boston: 
"it Appears to me, if there is any force in the Late acts, of Parlament. they 
have Sett us, a float, that is, have thrown us into a State of Nature: we Now 
have a fair Oppertunity of Choosing what form of Goverment we think proper, 
and, Contract, with any Nation, we pleas; for a King to Rule over us." Revolu- 
tionary Corresp., III., 277, Bancroft Collection, Lenox Library. 

1 Cf. Burgess, Political Science and Comparative Constitutional Law, I., 100. 



g~\ GO VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS g 

enthusiasm of being "an American" could win battles, and 
it could meet well its test at the time which "Novanglus" 
foresaw, when recourse must be had " to the ratio ultima 
of Louis XIV. and the suprema lex of the king of Sardinia, — 
to the law of brickbats and cannon balls, which can be an- 
swered only by brickbats and balls." J The military and 
diplomatic successes of the Revolution must be recognized 
and their value fitly estimated. But what seems a successful 
revolt is not always a successful revolution. To take full 
advantage of the good work on the field and in the cabinet a 
firmly established and well organized government was essen- 
tia). Such to the central body, the Continental Congress, 
was unknown; such, in large measure, was present in each 
of those territories which from colonies had become common- 
wealths. The prominence and incapacity of the central 
government in the years immediately subsequent to the 
military crisis were in strong contrast with the efficiency and 
the quiet conservatism shown by those bodies of the people 
who had come forth from the constructive work of the first 
years of the Revolution organized as political units. In 
territorial arrangement these portions of the population, 
with one exception, 2 coincided with the earlier colonies. 
Among their inhabitants as colonists had occurred those 

1 Works of John Adams, iv, 38. 

2 Vermont is the exception here referred to. The earlier relations between the 
New Hampshire Grants and the royal colonies of New Hampshire, New York, 
and Massachusetts, make the history of the origin of Vermont somewhat compli- 
cated. It is not necessary in the present work to enter into any explanation of 
the subject, although the subsequent grouping of the Vermont Constitution of 1777 
with the other constitutions of the period may seem to require justification, since 
at the time Vermont was not recognized as a state, as a part of the American 
system. However, the theories on which the acts of the inhabitants of that re- 
gion were based were in many respects identical with the theories dominant else- 
where on the continent, and the result of work under such conditions may prop- 
erly be grouped with similar results elsewhere, it being understood that no identity 
of constitutional procedure is necessarily implied. 



IO FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ IO 

events, some violent in character, which have already been 
broadly classified as the destructive phase of the Revo- 
lution ; and among each group, acting still on the accus- 
tomed lines of political sub-division, had arisen, contempo- 
raneously with the immediate beginnings of nationality 
already noticed, the more valuable and constructive work, 
the creation of commonwealth governments. To these is 
due no small meed of credit for affording the nation some 
degree of stability and order during the period when 
the ostensibly national government was in the slough of 
administrative inefficiency and disintegrating sectionalism ; 
to them are to be traced many features of the later na- 
tional constitution. In them was brought together the 
content of the charters, the legislation, and the custom of 
the past, and with them began the modern period 
wherein the written constitution appears as a basis of gov- 
ernment. 

In no country has a period so brief been marked by the 
promulgation of so many constitutions as the decade of the 
American Revolution. No period of activity in constitu- 
tional matters can compare with this in the manner in which 
recognized propriety of procedure was forced to yield to 
expediency. In none, on the other hand, has appeared such 
a degree of self-control and conservatism as has stamped 
this as the one among all similar periods in which the 
people have gained complete control of constituent power. 
In spite of the circumstances amid which they were 
formed, the constitutions of the Revolution give abundant 
evidence of wise conservatism. Monarchy and anarchy 
were safely avoided, and in that was the chief success. 
With the exclusion of such elements assured, full play 
was given to the political instincts of both conservatives and 
radicals, and the result was the ultimate combination and 
definite expression of the political theories of their lead- 



j ! ] GO VERNMENT IN MASSA CHUSE TTS x Y 

ers, 1 of the traditions and religious tendencies of the people, of 
the teachings of a century and a half of colonial administra- 
tion, of the contemporaneous political philosophy of Europe, 
and of the lessons derived from the growth of the Eng- 
lish constitution. The new written constitutions embodied 
and reflected the nature of the communities for which they 
were made. 2 In these documents the shifting of the source 
of political power was asserted, and the assertion was main- 
tained. The maintenance of this made permanent the con- 
stituent work of the various commonwealths in the period 
under review; it has given significance and historical posi- 
tion to the decade which begins with the 'resumption' of 
the provincial charter of Massachusetts in 1775 and ends 
with the promulgation of New Hampshire's second constitu- 
tion in 1 784.2 The year of independence saw the completion 
of eight constitutions 4 and the adoption of two royal charters 

1 E.g. John Adams to Mrs. Mercy Warren, July 11, 1807, Collections of Massa- 
chusetts Historical Society, 5 ser. IV, 324. 

Cf. Oration of Jonathan W. Austin, at Boston, March 5, 1778. Niles, Prin- 
ciples and Acts, 31. 

E.g. Diary of Nathaniel Ames, December 30, 1777 : " Club began to read Locks 
essay on Govmt." Dedhavi Hist. Reg., Ill, 186. 

The pamphlet, Observations upon the Present Government of Pennsylvania, 
by its citation of political writers, reflects the amount of familiarity with standard 
writers presumed in the citizen. 

Cf. Works of John Adams, III., 22, 23. 

2 " The Scite and Circumstances in which your Affairs were brought in the year 
1776: and your self-consciousness prompted you to find that you were not in fact 
what political establishments had made you by law, , . ." Pownall, Memorial 
to Sovereigns of America, 1 1. 

"The next peculiarity to be found in these states is that we have established 
governments amongst us, approaching nearer to perfect democracies than any we 
have accounts of, either antient or modern; all power whatever is vested in, and 
immediately derived from, the people only; . . ." Observations on Govern, 
ment, by a Farmer of New Jersey, p. 5c. 

3 A scant outline of the period is given in Bancroft, History of the United 
States, V., 111-125, 404-422. 

4 In Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Penn- 
sylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. 



I2 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ I2 > 

as the basis of government; ' the following year was marked 
by the adoption of three more constitutions; 2 in 1778 one 
of the constitutions of '76 3 was superseded by a more ade- 
quate form, and the period was rounded out by the adop- 
tion in 1784 and 1780, respectively, of the second con- 
stitution of New Hampshire and of the constitution of 
Massachusetts. The variety of procedure was great; the 
divergence of theories was marked ; the results were by no- 
means uniform. In the whole series no reorganization 
showed such distinct types and characteristic developments 
of procedure, such political ability and general conservatism, 4 
such high ideals, such generally effective intelligence, such 
successful results, as the revolutionary transition from the 
old Province of the Massachusetts Bay to the new Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts. 5 

§ 2. The Transitiofi in Massachusetts 
The nature of the population of Massachusetts, its atti- 
tude toward the home government, 6 and the existence of the 

1 In Connecticut and Rhode Island. 

2 In Georgia, New York, and Vermont. John Adams was not wholly correct 
when he wrote to James Warren, February 3, 1777 : "Thus I think there are but 
three States remaining which have not erected their governments, Massachusetts,. 
New York, and New Hampshire." Works of John Adams, IX., 451. 

3 That of South Carolina. 

4 Cf. Action of Medfield, December 29, 1773: "while we profess ourselves 
advocates for Rational Constitutenal Liberty we dont mean to patrionise Liber- 
tinesm and Licenteousness we are sensible of the necessety of Goverment for the 
Security of Life Liberty and property and mean to vindecate and Submit to all 
Lawfull Constitutianal authority." Revolutionary Corresp., Bancroft Collection, 
L, C07. 

5 And as to the conclusion of the movement, and the adoption of the constitu- 
tion of 1780: " For the purposes of science, Massachusetts must, in this case, be 
regarded as the type of all independeut, civilized communities, to which it is 
designed to present a model of government adapted to secure the great ends of 
human society." Works of John Adams, IV., 217. 

6 Cf. Abington committee to Boston committee, April 27, 1773: "Our ever 



?1 3 ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 1 3 

township system early made that province appear both as 
an obstinate dependency and as a national leader. In 
each capacity she reaped her reward. The development 
of friction in administrative affairs made it possible for her to 
appear as of all the colonies the most oppressed, and 
gave occasion and strength to the growth among her people 
•of a political school of the " movement" type, the wide pre- 
valence of whose ideas transformed the alleged victim of the 
empire into the acknowledged leader of the nation. From 
her assembly hall went forth the call for the first Continental 
Congress ; on her soil political opposition first became armed 
antagonism. The chief forces at work in the inceptive period 
of the Revolution were at the time well described in the say- 
ing that Massachusetts led the nation, that Boston directed 
Massachusetts, and that Sam Adams controlled the Boston 
town-meeting. So placed with reference to continental 
affairs, in local matters Massachusetts was equally adapted 
and committed to the program of the "movement" party. 
Her government passed out of royal hands before the Con- 
tinental Congress had been in session a month ; after a par- 
tially successful appeal for the advice of the Continental 
Congress hers was the first government to be placed on a 
new, although confessedly temporary, foundation; and from 
one of her leaders went forth to the other colonies one of 
the strongest single lines of influence toward the speedy 
erection of commonwealth governments. Massachusetts 
endorsed heartily, even if for the time incompletely, the 

loyal Province of the Massachussetts-Bay has long stood the Butt of Ministerial 
Vengence, and a Number of our Sister Colonies, have not only had now and then 
a random Shot, but Some of them begin to feal the infernal Smart of the plaguy 
Sting, but to the praise of GOD be it Spoken American Vertue is not totally ex- 
tinct, but far otherwise no Gentlemen it has lately buded, and is pleasantly blos- 
soming and We ardently pray it's fruit may be brought to consumate maturity." 
^Revolutionary Corresp., Bancroft Collection, I, III. 



14 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [^ 

principal features of John Adams' plan x of political cam- 
paign ; and it was toward the full realization of his policy in 
the complete establishment of commonwealth government 
that the leaders aimed consistently during the few years of 
the distinctly transitional period. 2 

The time of reorganization in Massachusetts is marked by 
a variety of clear characteristics ; it is, as well, divided into 
distinct periods. The underlying causes of the change ap- 
pear in the strong difference in religious types 3 between the 
home country and its colony, in the wholly different social 
surroundings and influences, 4 in the increasing, if not even 
hostile, divergence of economic interests and activity, and in 
the almost antipodal political traditions 5 nourished and acted 

1 Cf. J. Adams to P. Henry : Philadelphia, June 3, 1776; Works of John Adams, 
IX., 387. 

Cf. Collections of Mass. Historical Society, 5 ser., IV. 349, 350. 

2 E.g. William Gordon's sermon before the Mass. Assembly, July 4, 1777: 
"... let us mould the governments of the respective states, . . . . , so as not 
only to exclude kings, but tyranny, and, as ever, to retain the supreme authority 
in the people, together with the power, no less than the right of calling their 
delegated agents to account, whether they sit in the assembly, the council, the 
chair, or the Congress." Patriot Preachers of the American Revolution, 183, 184. 

3 In short, the only Difference between an Old and a New-English Man is in his 
Religion; . . . ." Daniel Neal, The History of New- England, London, 1720, 
p. 614. Cf Doyle, The Puritan Colonies, I., 14. 

* The Pennsylvania Evening Post, vol. II., no. 179, March 14, 1776, has some 
significant material, and especially so as referring simply to the colonial city class : 
" Is not one half of the property in the city of Philadelphia owned by men who 
wear leathern aprons? Does not the other half belong to men whose fathers 
or grandfathers wore leathern aprons? " 

5 In 1853, Mr. Griswold of Erving, speaking of Massachusetts, said : "Her 
town-meetings alone could not have existed as they existed before the Revolution 
without leading to that important event." Debates and Proceedings of the Con- 
vention of 1853, 828. 

"The proceedings of the Provincial Assemblies of Plymouth, in 1636, of Mary- 
land, in 1650, of Rhode-Island, in 1663, of New- York, in 1 691, and of Massa- 
chusetts, in 1692, may be referred to, as showing how deeply rooted and how 
widely diffused, even at these remote periods, were the true and essential prin- 
ciples which, subsequently expanding into maturity, produced the fruits of the 
American Revolution." 4 American Archives, I., preface, p. 2. 



I 5 ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS j 5 

upon by the more advanced colonists on the one hand, and, 
on the other, by the more conservative Englishmen. In the 
discussion, furthermore, on the independence of the judiciary, 
in the contest for the conlrol of the finances and the inciden- 
tal control of the executive, in the various and protracted 
disputes between the legislative and executive branches of the 
government, in the parliamentary legislation on colonial 
trade and manufactures, and in the final interference with 
the guarantees of the provincial charter, are indicated some 
of the salient points in the long history of growing oppo- 
sition, silent or avowed, between the home government 
and the colonists. The climax of expression is found, on 
the one hand, in certain acts of parliament of 1774, and, 
on the other hand, not only in the coup d'etat of June 17, 
1774, at the Salem court house, but also in such resolves 
as those of Suffolk county in the following September, and 
of the Continental Congress in June, 1775. The closing 
phases of this preliminary period are illustrated by the stat- 
utory alteration by parliament of the constitution of the Mas- 
sachusetts council. The attempt to bring the colony into 
line on the basis of a largely centralized imperial system 
precedes but shortly the overthrow of the royal government. 
With that event, in October, 1774, the provincial times end, 
and the period of revolution begins. The constructive 
" abdication" of the royal executive is followed by the end 
of the royal assembly, and followed also by the organization 
of the so-called Provincial Congress. 

The rule of the Provincial Congresses z extended from Oc- 
tober, 1774, to July, 1775, and tided over with success the 
months when "civil government, legislation, judicial pro- 
ceedings and commercial regulations were in Massachusetts, 
to all appearance, annihilated," and when the prevailing dis- 

1 The Proceedings are given in Journals of Each Proviticial Congress of Mass., 
Boston, 1838. 



l6 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [j6 

position of the people gave to the resolutions of the Pro- 
vincial Congress all " the weight and efficacy of laws." x 
"And in every colony the votes of a congress . . . had equal 
effect with the laws of great and general courts." 2 The 
dangers of approaching anarchy threw into sharper prom- 
inence the conservatism and the self restraint of the people 
during these months ; the general revulsion against the royal 
government was closely followed by an equally widespread 
and profound acquiescence in the administrative leadership 
of the Provincial Congress. No more striking instance of 
political vitality can be adduced than the unity, the pro- 
priety, and the vigor of the action of Massachusetts, of her 
politicians and of her people, during these few hazardous 
months. Then was strong justification given to the theory 
which George Cabot later 3 expressed in a letter to Theo- 
philus Parsons: "All governments rest on opinion. Free 
governments, especially, depend on popular opinion for their 
existence, and on popular approbation for their force ; if, 
therefore, just opinions and right sentiments do not prevail 
in the community, such systems must necessarily perish." 4 
Such "right" sentiments, however, did prevail in Massachu- 
setts and made possible the gradual and firm assumption by 
the Provincial Congress of powers of wide extent and im- 
portant meaning. To be sure, the Congress did not sup- 
pose itself vested with sovereign powers, as did similar bod- 
ies elsewhere ; but its voluntary recognition of the people 
as the ultimate source of political power was the only im- 
portant limitation upon the competency of its action. On 

1 Ramsay, History of the American Revolution, Phila., 1789, I., 131. 

2 Langdon's Sermon before Mass. Assembly, May 31, 1775, Patriot Preachers 
of the American Revolution, 69. Cf Ramsay, History of the American Revolu- 
tion, I., 132. 

3 August 12, 1794. 

* Memoir of Theophilus Parsons, by his son, Boston, 1861, p. 471. 



! 7"! GO VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS Y y 

this basis a large amount of legislative and administrative 
business was accomplished ; attention was given to a wide 
range of affairs, from finances and the judiciary to manu- 
factures and military supplies ; with committees and single 
administrative officials a tolerably systematic organization 
was effected. The imperfections in organization were, 
furthermore, counterbalanced by the unusual character and 
indulgent temperament of the people. The activity of the 
Congress was timely and well-planned ; the carriage of the 
body was characterized by unassuming dignity and by honest 
effort at propriety ; and these characteristics were enhanced 
by its conservatism when, able almost to grasp a dictatorial 
power, it thrice effected willingly its own dissolution, and 
prepared thus for the further development of the government 
of the people. 

The appeal of the second Provincial Congress drew from 
the Continental Congress the advice to "conform, as near as 
may be, to the spirit and substance of the charter" of 1691. 
The advice was promptly adopted. The third Provincial 
Congress caused the issue of writs of election for a new 
house of representatives, and in July, 1775, these rep- 
resentatives met, chose a council of twenty-eight to serve 
both as a second branch of the legislature and as an ex- 
ecutive, and inaugurated thus a period of rule in accord- 
ance with the terms of the royal charter, modified in prac- 
tice by an extra-constitutional provision for the exercise of 
the executive functions. "Thus, after living for more than 
twelve months without any legal government, without laws, 
and without any regular administration of justice, but what 
arose from the internal sense of moral obligation, . . . , the 
Massachusetts returned peaceably to the regular and neces- 
sary subordination of civil society." 1 There had been a 
legal government within a twelvemonth, and theoretically 

1 Warren, History of the American Revolution, Boston, 1805, I., 226, 227. 



FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH 



D 



there still was one ; but as the usurpation had been begun 
by the Provincial Congress, so now the work was taken up 
by a provisional government of better organization, resting 
on a surer basis, and the existence of which could be more 
easily justified. 

The use of the provincial charter as a basis of government 
marks a distinct division in the transitional period, and 
covers the time from July 19, 1775, to October 25, 1780. 
The assembly which met in accordance with that charter 
succeeded a confessedly revolutionary body ; this later as- 
sembly was itself succeeded by a body created by a written 
form of government to which success in war had already 
given the pledge of future legitimacy; and the constitu- 
tional character of this last organization was established as 
one of the incidents of a finally successful revolution. 
During this half decade, as already indicated, the forms of 
government and of procedure corresponded with those of the 
provincial period ; but it was for a provincial period that the 
document was prepared; it was not formed by royalty to 
serve a democratic commonwealth, and such service would 
be both incongruous and inconvenient. This period, thus, be- 
came marked by the first constituent proceedings in Massa- 
chusetts, by the first instance in any of the commonwealths 
of the submission to popular action of a new constitution, and, 
further, by the rejection on the part of the people, acting in 
their town-meetings, of this constitution of 1778. The move- 
ment for anew constitution, with new method of procedure, 
resulted successfully in the ratification by the people of the 
constitution of 1780. With the inauguration of John Han- 
cock as governor, on October 25, 1780, the last period of the 
transition closed and the history of the new commonwealth 
began. 



CHAPTER II 

ELEMENTS OF ANTAGONISM IN THE PROVINCIAL SYSTEM 

A STUDY of English colonial administration reveals the 
distinction obtaining between a royal province and a de- 
pendency in which the development of a chartered corpora- 
tion into a " corporate colony " J tended seriously to limit the 
royal power. Such a theoretical distinction became a prac- 
tical antagonism when finally in Massachusetts the effort was 
made to maintain a government containing elements of both 
systems. The effort occasioned many events and expres- 
sions which made it plain that harmony between the provin- 
cial and commonwealth principles was impossible, and which 
foreboded in no uncertain way the time when the anomalous 
conditions should be removed, even if by acts so radical as 
to constitute a revolution. 

The forms and powers of government in provincial 
Massachusetts were plainly lacking in consistency ; 2 in 
connection with them, as well, arose contests for which at 
the first there appeared no possible occasion. Among these 
latter was the dispute over the rights of town representation, 



See Osgood, The Colonial Corporation. 



2 Cf. " Reasons for a Declaration of the Independence of the American Col- 
onies." The first is : " The Colonies will be delivered from two Governments 
directly opposed to each other." 4 American Archives, V., 992. Cf. Instruc- 
tions of Lexington to representative, December 31, 1772: " But this is not all — 
Our Charter knows no such thing as Instructions to Governors; and yet, what 
have not Instructions done to distress this People !" Revolutionary Corresp., 
Bancroft Collection, I., 497. 

19] 19 



20 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH Y 2 

a dispute which well illustrates one phase of the inconsist- 
ency and defines clearly the antagonism of the parties in- 
volved. The town system had been formed in the early 
colonial period; by the charter of 1691 its existence was 
presumed and its continuance assured, and thereafter new 
towns were frequently incorporated by act of the General 
Court. Such incorporation by the division of older towns, 
or by the erection of distinct towns on newly settled terri- 
tory, was naturally made necessary by the increase of popu- 
lation or by its dispersion. It had long been in accordance 
with the recognized theory, and it had, as well, been the 
customary practice of the legislature, to consider the right of 
representation in the General Court as an incident of town 
incorporation. Such a theory had met with no serious 
opposition until three bills, for dividing as many townships, 
were, in 1742, presented to Governor Shirley. His action 
on this occasion created a new problem in colonial politics. 
Far from immediately assenting to the bills, the governor 
transmitted them to the Lords of Trade with suggestive com- 
ment. The fact that these bills would, at a stroke, double 
the legislative representation of a given area, prompted him 
to investigate the practice since 1692, and he found that 
since that time thirty-three new towns had been erected by 
such means, and that the practice of thus forming two or 
even three towns out of a single town had increased greatly 
in the later years, sixteen of the thirty-three bills having been 
passed in Governor Belcher's administration. Shirley further 
based his opposition to the bills on the fact that the erection 
of new precincts and parishes would secure equally well all 
administrative advantages which the town system might 
accord. He more pointedly referred to the embarrassment 
of the past, and to the feasibility of checking the division of 
towns, in which connection he bluntly proposed " to put an 
end to this way of increasing the number of Representatives, 



2 i "1 GO VERNMENT IX MASS A CHUSE TTS 2 I 

which seems to promise no good effect for his Majesty's 
service . . ." I 

The position taken by Shirley was upheld by the Lords of 
Trade in a report of June 8, 1743, and was further endorsed 
by an order in council of August 11, 1743, which approved 
the draught of an additional instruction to Governor Shirley. 
By this the new position of the administration was stated. 
Reference was made to the possible inconvenience of an 
increase in the number of towns by division, as well as to the 
possibility that all essential political functions might be per- 
formed fully as well if the population should be organized 
into precincts, parishes, or villages, without rights of rep- 
resentation. The effective portion is seen in the direction 
that the governor should assent to no bill erecting a new 
town or dividing an old one, unless the bill should contain 
a clause suspending the execution thereof until the king's 
pleasure should be known. 2 

The policy thus defined was not the policy of a year or of 
a ministry, but was a factor in the political development of 
Massachusetts from the time of its announcement to the time 
of the Revolution. Thus, in 1 756, the Lords of Trade enjoined 
upon Governor Shirley more care in the observance of the 
additional instruction; 3 and the first act of the session of the 
following year was disallowed by the privy council, as the 

1 Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass. Bay, III., 70, 71. Gov. Shirley to 
Lords of Trade, October 18, 1742. In this report he says there were at the time 
160 towns, of which most were entitled to two representatives, although none 
but Boston, Salem, Ipswich, and Newbury ever sent more than one; "and very 
few or none of the new Towns ever send any;" but if friction should arise on 
any point the number in the house could be almost trebled. 

2 Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass. Bay, III., 72. 

3 Acts of 1753— '54, chaps. 35, 37, 38, erecting respectively the towns of Lincoln, 
Greenwich, and Petersham, granted full power of representation, and did not con- 
tain the suspending clause; Shirley's attention was called to this in the letter of 
the Lords of Trade of April 13, 1756, but the acts were not repealed, owing to 
the inconvenience that might be occasioned. Ibid., III., 745. 



22 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH \ 2 2 

instruction of 1743 had been repeated to Governor Pownall. 1 
It was when this bill had passed both houses that Thomas 
Hutchinson, in the council, asked to enter his dissent, assign- 
ing as one of his reasons therefor the fact that an increased 
number of representatives " must likewise give that House an 
undue proportion to the Board in the Legislature where 
many affairs are determined by a joint Ballot of the two 
Houses." 2 The report of the Lords of Trade on the same 
bill affirmed that the act was for the sole purpose of giving 
the town a representation in the assembly, and that the 
practice had " formerly by its frequency been found to pro- 
duce many inconveniences and particularly that of continu- 
ally increasing the number of Representatives, . . ." 3 

A brief lapse in the force of earlier instructions was occa- 
sioned by the death of the sovereign, of which period the 
Lords of Trade wrote that in their opinion acts for creating 
townships which had no reference to the right of choosing 
representatives were most nearly in accordance with the act 
of 1 692/ The view of the situation, from one side, was now 
given by Governor Bernard when he wrote : " It is also 
obvious that the new Settled Counties have a right to be 
represented. But yet there is such danger to be appre- 
hended from the house of Representatives continually in- 
creasing that it is time to put a stop to it by some means, 
tho' it were to be wished that it could be done without deny- 
ing new Settlers the natural and constitutional right of being 
represented. The increase of the number of Representatives 

1 Acts 1757— '58, chap. 1, erecting the town of Danvers with full powers, was 
disallowed by the Privy Council, August 10, 1759. Ibid., IV., 5; Cf. Ibid., IV., 
93, 94. Yet Danvers after 1758 was recognized in the house; Cf. Acts of 
1772-73, chap. 17; Cf. Ibid., V., 268. 

2 Ibid., IV., 93. 3 Ibid., IV, 5. 

*To Gov. Bernard, November 25, 1761. Ibid., IV., 452. Silence as to repre- 
sentation would imply the right to such; where rights of representation were 
withheld an explicit reservation was made. 



23] GO VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 2 3 

seems to endanger the Constitution itself. ... In the year 
1 71 8 there were but 91 Writs issued, 1 in 1692 when the 
Charter was opened probably not above 84, Now there is 
near 170 And yet the Council keeps its old Number of 28, 
So that the Assembly were to the Council at the time of 
their first meeting as 3 to 1 now they are 6 to 1 and conse- 
quently the Councils share in elections is diminished by 
half." 2 The right of the colonial position was virtually con- 
ceded by the Lords of Trade in the next year, though they also 
replied to Bernard and warmly agreed with his opinion that 
the increase of the number of representatives without a cor- 
responding addition to the power of the council would cer- 
tainly "have very pernicious consequences and destroy that 
Balance which we presume was originally intended to be 
kept up between the Upper and Lower House of Assembly." 3 
In the later years some of the towns incorporated upon 
newly settled lands beyond the limits of the earlier towns 
received the right of separate representation ; and in this 
connection Lieutenant Governor Hutchinson, referring to the 
acts of the last session, wrote in 1771 that they seemed not 
to require remark or explanation, except a possible apol- 
ogy for " consenting to so many New Towns without except- 
ing a Privilege of sending Representatives. They are all 
made out of new Territory which never was before incorpor- 
ated and my consent is warranted by the practice of my 
Predecessor in consequence of directions he received. 4 As 

1 Neal, History of New England, 1720, speaks of the house as having 103 
members, p. 605 ; and in the appendix gives a list of council and house, naming 
98 of the latter with five vacancies. Ibid., 710-712. 

2 To Lords of Trade, August 3, 1761. Acts and Resolves of the Province of 
Mass. Bay, IV., 45 1 . 

3 To Gov. Bernard, June II, 1762. Ibid., IV., 452. Cf Ibid., IV., 451, 453. 

4 Thus we find towns incorporated, especially in the border counties, with full 
rights of representation. E.g.: Gageborough, Berkshire Co., Acts of IJJI-J2, 
chap. 6; Partridgefield, Berkshire Co., Acts of iyji-'j2, chap. 7; Buxton, York 



24 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [24 

there is a prospect of many such Townships being incorpor- 
ated every year the House of Representatives will soon swell 
to an enormous size." 1 That the restrictive policy, however, 
was retained to the end, even if not in all instances applied, 
is shown by the course of Hutchinson when, as governor, he 
assented to an act 2 erecting out of the territory of Spring- 
field the town of West Springfield with no limitation as to 
representation, an assent which in April, 1774, he explained 
thus : " I must acknowledge I gave my assent suddenly and 
upon further consideration should have refused it. Seeing 
the increase of weight will in some degree follow the increase 
of numbers in the House of Representatives, it requires some 
provision to prevent such increase of numbers." 3 

The policy thus was repeatedly expressed ; its applica- 
tion was as frequently enforced, and with such uniformity 
that the situation developed what was for the colonist a ques- 
tion of vital importance. The right of town representation 
was a right sacred in colonial tradition ; its limitation now 
upon grounds of political policy would subject colonial theo- 
ries to a revision, and w r ould lead directly to a more or less 
complete disappearance of local participation in provincial 
politics. The complete political subordination of the pro- 
vincial population to a distant administration would result 
from the success of the ministerial purpose ; and the blunt 

Co., Acts of i772-'73, chap. 10; Loudon, Berkshire Co., Acts of 1 772-^3, chap. 
37; Hallo well, Lincoln Co., Acts of ijyo-^yi, chap. 27; Winthrop, Lincoln Co., 
Acts of i770-'7i, chap. 30; Vassalborough, Lincoln Co., Acts of i770-'7i, chap. 
33; Belfast, Lincoln Co., Acts of 17 73-' 74, chap. 3; Waldoborough, Lincoln 
Co., Acts of I773~'74, chap. 4; Edgcomb, Lincoln Co., Acts of 1773-74, chap. 
21; New Gloucester, Cumberland Co., Acts of I773~'74, chap. 22; Pownal- 
borough, on the Kennebec, Acts of i759~'6o, chap. 23; on this last case cf. 
Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass. Bay, IV., 350, 351. 

1 To Secretary Pownall, May 16, 1771. Ibid., V., 139. 

2 Acts of 1773-74, chap. 26. 

3 To Lords of Trade, April 5, 1774. Ibid., V., 380. 



25] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CH USE TTS 2 C 

expression of the reasons of that purpose did not tend to- 
improve the attitude taken by the colonists. Their contest 
was now one for essential rights, as well as for the maintenance 
of theory. That their grievance was not light is apparent 
from the wide extent to which was experienced this denial 
of an important political function. 1 The spirit of the home 
government was shown, and by it the temper of the people 
was being prepared for the future. They were now taught 
that their interests were not the interests of their governors,, 
and that for the maintenance of their political rights they 
must depend on themselves alone. The theories upheld on 
the two sides of the water now brought factors in the same 
government, which were normally interdependent, into a 
relation of antagonism. 2 For the present, to be sure, the 

1 Thus we find the erection of districts with full town rights except that of 
representation; e. g.: Palmer, Acts of i75i-'52, chap. 15; Shirley, Acts of 
1752— '53, chap. 9; Southampton, Acts of i752-'53, chap. 10; Greenfield, Acts of 
1 753— '54, chap. 3; Newcastle, Acts of I753~'54, chap. 4; Granville, Acts of 
1753-54, chap. 21 ; Cf. Acts of 1752-53, chaps. 23, 24, 25, 26; Acts of 1753— '54, 
chaps. 2, 22, 36; Acts of 1754-55, chap. 14; Acts of 1 758— '59, chap. 12; Acts 
of 1759-60, chaps. 3, 5, 6, 7, 22, 39. 

Likewise towns were erected with all powers except that of representation; e.g.: 
Colrain, Acts of 1761-62, 'chap. 10; Whately, Acts of l'j'jo- 1 ']!, chap. 22. In 
the last case it was provided that the town should join with Hatfield, out of 
which it was erected, in the choice of representatives. So when the north 
parish of Sheffield was made the town of Great Barrington, it was provided that 
the new town should join with the older in choosing a representative; Acts of 
i76i-'62, chap. 9. So when the district of Alford was incorporated it was pro- 
vided that it should join Great Barrington, Sheffield, and Egremont in the choice 
of a representative; Acts of IJJ2-J3, chap. 36; Cf. Acts of 1 773-' 74, chap. 27. 

When the town of Pittsfield was erected, April 21, 1761, it was provided that 
it should not elect a representative until the general election of May, 1763; Acts 
of 1760-61, chap. 34. 

2 It may be held that the antagonism was one of theory; in actual exercise of 
this right the colonists had not been forward, as is shown repeatedly by a 
comparison between the number of the house and the number which it might 
legally have contained. In many quarters self-interest made impossible any strong 
demand tor the complete retention of w r hat by some had been deemed a burden.. 
The act of i75i-'52, chap. 15, erects the district of Palmer, and grants full town 



26 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ 2 6 

antagonism was not violent ; the loss of representation 
meant for each town a lower tax rate, and that could well 
repay the waiving of certain intangible rights. 1 When, how- 
ever, men came to the turn of affairs at which a theory or a 
principle was maintained for itself alone, the attitude of the 
colonists was more positive. The significance of the earlier 
course was plain, and the knowledge of its meaning could 
not fail to make more pronounced the views of the revolu- 
tionists. Among those few acts passed on the 17 June, 1774, 
was one for the erection of the town of Hutchinson without 
any restriction as to its rights of representation, and the act, 2 
although passed under a royal governor, was indicative of 
the tendency of the time and of the course which later action 
on the subject was to take. One of the first acts passed by 
the General Court in 1775, after the resumption of the 
charter, was that which removed all conditions imposed in 
the earlier incorporation of towns, and which, furthermore, 
granted to all incorporated districts both the status of towns 

rights except that of representation, " which, it is represented, said inhabitants 
are not at present desirous of." Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass. Bay, 
III., 599. Near the close of the session of i76o-'6*, four bills were sent to the 
governor erecting the towns of Colrain, Tyringham, Sandisfield, and Becket; the 
towns had been willing to waive the right of representation but the house 
refused to allow them to waive the point; the bills accordingly were rejected. 
Pittsfield was incorporated by a bill passed by the same assembly, but the 
approval of the bill was based on the fact that Pittsfield was a county town and 
on new territory. Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass. Bay, IV., 451. 

1 Cf Inhabitants of Pearson Town, to Boston Committee of Correspondence, 
July 8, 1773: "We are not a Town. To be at present in that capacity would 
expose us to a Taxation which would be a Burden too Grievous for us in our 
Infant State to bear." Revolutionary Corresp., Bancroft Collection, I., 705. 

Wenham sent a representative only once in the years from 1747 to 1767. 
Allen, History of Wenham, 54. Manchester, May 10, 1736, voted not to send a 
representative, "not being able to support the Charges. . . ." Manchester 
Records, II., 23. Cf. Ibid., II., 83, 171 ; Adams, Address at Acton, 14; Gibbs, 
History of Blandford, 72; Braintree Totvn Records, 333. 

2 Acts of 1774, chap. 3, Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass., V., 389. 



27] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 2 J 

and full rights of representation. 1 Not only such acts during 
the period of the revolution, but also various facts in the sub- 
sequent history of the commonwealth, emphasized the im- 
portance of the towns in the political system of Massa- 
chusetts, and made still more distinct the significance of a 
contest involving the maintenance or the restriction of their 
rights. Such significance is undiminished by the fact that 
this question did not become an issue at any threatening 
crisis, and that its solution was not attended by any theatrical 
incidents. 

The location of the assembled General Court furnished a 
further subject of controversy which aided in increasing the 
tension. Little was said either in the charter of 1691 or in 
the explanatory charter of 1726 regarding the place at which 
the legislature should meet ; yet established custom, provin- 
cial statute, and general recognition had designated Boston 
as the legislative seat. The question at issue illustrates how 
not infrequently a political character is given to an event or 
policy which in its origin was confessedly not of that nature. 
The vigorous political contest, in the years preceding the 
Revolution, over the removal of the assembly to Cambridge, 
was not an isolated phenomenon. The question, in one 
form or another, had been present for half a century ; and 
during that period the attitude assumed on it had varied 
significantly. Recurring to 1721, 2 the prevalence of small pox 
in Boston then forced the legislature, for its session of August 
23, to meet at the George Tavern on Boston Neck, a place 
which the representatives voted " not accomodable." 3 They 
resolved to remove to Cambridge, to meet there when the 
governor should see fit; with this step the council concurred, 
but the governor considered such procedure an infringement 

1 Acts of 1 775-1 776, chap. 3. Ibid., V., 419, 420. 

2 Cf Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, II., 227, 241, 245. 

3 Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass. Bay, II., 234. 



28 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ 2 g, 

of the charter. Nevertheless, the General Court met subse- 
quently at Harvard College ; but the approach of the epi- 
demic forced them to adjourn, in the following month, to 
the Swan Tavern, Cambridge. Likewise for hygienic 
reasons we find the General Court meeting at Harvard Col- 
lege, at the East Meeting House, Roxbury, and at the 
George Tavern, during the year 1730. 1 So in 1737, for the 
sake of convenience, the legislature met at Salisbury; 2 and 
in 1751 and 1752, owing to epidemics, at Harvard College 
again. 3 

Of another type was the adjournment of the General! 
Court to Salem in 1728. 4 On September 13 of that year 
Governor Burnet, at Boston, wrote to the Lords of Trade : 
" I came hither on the 19th July and have ever since the 
24th been contending with a stiff assembly." So obstinate 
was the conduct of the house in refusing to obey the king's 
instructions with reference to the governor's salary, that that 
officer adjourned the assembly to meet at Salem, October 
3 1. 5 Such sessions as those of 1728 and 1729, held in any- 
place outside of Boston, the representatives resolved were 
illegal. They had in 1721 passed similar resolves, and at 
that time not only had the council concurred but the gov- 
ernor as well had admitted the correctness of their position. 6 
The lower house held the same ground in 1770, when it op- 
posed the course of the governor in adjourning the assembly 
to Cambridge. There was then no reason for or against re- 

1 Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass. Bay, II., 573, 574. Cf Ibid., II.,. 
545, for meeting at Cambridge, Aug. 21, 1729. 

1 Lbid., II., 923. Cf Palfrey, History of New England, IV., 556, 

3 Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass. Bay, III., 605, 662. 

4 Cf. Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, II., 316, 317, 325, 328. Cf Lbid. y 
H'j 335- Of- Palfrey, History of A T ew England, IV., 513, 524, 526. 

5 Acts a?id Resolves of the Province of Mass. Bay, II., 523, where the reasons, 
for the step are given. 

6 Ibid., I., 363. Cf. Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, II., 317, 318. 



29] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 2 g 

moval on which all parties were agreed ; the purpose in- 
volved in the act was political, and so was the problem which 
resulted from it. Efforts at its solution now for three years 
intensified and embittered the colonial spirit. 

The violence suffered by royal officials in Massachusetts 
in the time of the Stamp Act excitement, the participation 
of the royal legislature in the movement toward the Stamp 
Act Congress, and such subsequent acts of the house of 
representatives as its refusal to rescind its circular letter to 
the other colonies, gave Massachusetts an unsavory reputa- 
tion with the home government. The sequence of events 
was so logical and so speedy that the introduction of an ef- 
fective military force need not have surprised the colonists. 
Amid their crude effort, in September, 1768, to create such 
a provincial congress as was later a power, on the very day 
when the delegates of nearly one hundred towns dispersed 
after the conference at Faneuil Hall, the fourteenth and 
twenty-ninth regiments arrived in Boston harbor. Thence- 
forth Boston contained a camp, and in consequence the 
hostile feeling toward the ministry was greatly increased. 
"Vindex," voicing the common man, demanded that the 
proper magistrates should " execute the good and wholesome 
laws of the land with resolution and an intrepid firmness, 
aided by the posse comitatus, the body of the county, 
which is their only natural and legal strength," and insisted 
that " to be called to account by a common soldier, or any 
soldier, is a badge of slavery which none but a slave will 
wear." * 

More formal protest by the General Court was impossible 
during the period of prorogation. The situation, however, 
remained practically unchanged until the new house of rep- 
resentatives met, at the end of May, 1769. Immediately it 

1 Boston Gazette, December 5, 1768, Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, I., 231, 
232. 



30 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [30 

adopted a message to Governor Bernard in which it protested 
"that an armament by sea and land, investing this metro- 
polis, and a military guard, with cannon pointed at the very 
door of the state house, where this Assembly is held, is in- 
consistent with that dignity, as well as that freedom, with 
which we have a right to deliberate, consult and determine." 1 
They passed further resolves declaring such treatment a 
" breach of privilege," and that it was only out of regard for 
the provision of the charter requiring the council, speaker, 
and clerk to be chosen on this last Wednesday in May that 
they would consent to transact any business whatever. 
They expressly stated that they bore their part in the elec- 
tion of the day " from necessity, and in strict conformity to 
the royal charter ; 2 having before claimed their constitutional 
freedom, and now protesting that their thus proceeding, 
while the above mentioned forces are suffered to remain in 
the metropolis where this Court is convened, is to be con- 
sidered as a precedent in any time hereafter, or construed as 
a voluntary receding of this House from their constitutional 
claim." 3 The governor's disavowal of authority over the 
military force was followed by an interchange of views and 
an obstruction of business, until, on June 15, Bernard came 
to the conclusion, as he informed the house, " from your re- 
solutions, and a fortnight's experience, that you do not think 
that this is, at this time, a proper town for the General 
Court to sit in," 4 and he accordingly endeavored to apply 
such remedy as lay within his power. Because he claimed 
to be unable to withdraw the royal forces from the capital 
he removed the General Court to Cambridge. The next 
address of the house was mainly an insistence upon the 

1 Speeches of the Governors of Massachusetts, 166, 167. 

2 Precedents for argument in such a contest were few. Cf. Parliamentary 
History, IV., 317; Smith, History of New Jersey, 405-409. 

3 Speeches of 'the Governors of Massachusetts, 168. * Ibid., 172. 



3 i ] GO VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 3 x 

principles already advanced. In it they claimed the en- 
dorsement of their constituents, "for an entire fortnight, 
spent in silence, or a much longer time, cannot be displeas- 
ing to them, when business could not be entered upon, but 
at the expense of their rights and liberties, and the privilege 
of this House." x Other questions now took precedence, a 
petition for the removal of Bernard was adopted, and with 
his departure, Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson 
took the laboring oar for the administration. 

After delays by prorogation the General Court finally met 
again, March 15, 1770. Instructions received by Lieutenant 
Governor Hutchinson were by him interpreted as requiring 
a session at Cambridge. The house at once declared that 
such a step, if based merely on royal instructions, could be 
nothing less than " an infraction of our essential rights, as 
men and citizens, as well as those derived to us by the 
British constitution, and the charter of this colony." 2 They 
took a step equally characteristic of their views when they 
continued their remonstrance by the appeal to the governor 
to exert the authority derived by him from his Majesty's 
royal commission, agreeable to the charter of the colony, 
and vested in him alone, "in adjourning this great and 
General Assembly, to its ancient place, the Court House in 
Boston." 3 The council took similar ground, though its 
statement of the case was more moderate in tone and less 
inclusive. In his replies to the two houses the governor dis- 
claimed all private motives, and emphasized his position as 
" servant of the King, to be governed by what appears to 
me to be his Majesty's pleasure in those things, which other- 
wise I might have a right to do, or not to do, according to my 
discretion." 4 

Besides the constitutionality and force of royal instruc- 

1 Speeches of the Governors of Massachusetts, 173. 2 Ibid., 195. 

*Ibid., 196. * Ibid., 198. 



32 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [32 

tions which were inherent in the nature of provincial 
government, and besides the elements of the problem 
involving convenience and expediency, the colonists ad- 
duced the provisions of the provincial statute, 10 William 
III., chap. 4, and insisted upon the illegality of holdr 
ing a General Court outside of Boston. In this statute 
the processes for convening a General Court had been stated 
and the form of writ of election prescribed. In this it was 
provided that the General Court should meet in Boston, 1 a 
provision held by one party to be specific and mandatory 
and by the other party to be wholly pro forma. Relying 
chiefly upon this, the representatives declared that they 
"proceed to business, under this grievance, only from abso- 
lute necessity;" and they ordered that their protest be 
recorded in order that their act might not thereafter be 
taken as a precedent. 2 

When the new house of representatives assembled, May 
31, 1770, they at once addressed the governor on the all- 
important question. The adjournment to Salem, by Gov- 
ernor Burnet, in 1729, was cited and attention drawn to the 
iact that the representatives had never yielded their point. 
Mention was also made of the enforced adjournments and 
especially of that of 1721, after which "the three branches 

J Cf. Acts of 1692-93, ch. 36; Acts of i694~'95, cn - 2 %> Acts of 1698, ch. 4; 
Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass., I., 80, 202, 315. 

2 March 24, 1770; Speeches of the Governors of Massachusetts, 202. 

Joseph Hawley, Cambridge, April 3, 1770, to Mrs. Hawley: "You will Per- 
ceive by the Papers that the Council and house are very uneasy at the Court's 
being held at Cambridge. It was Sometime before they would Consent to enter 
on business, but on Saturday the 24th of March after Protesting against the 
Abuse and grievance of the Court's being Moved from the Seat of Governmt 
they applied themselves closely to business, of which there is Much to do, but 
We daily find ourselves retarded in business by reason of our distance from the 
Province records and for want of Convenient places for Comtees to Sit in &c 
&c. . . . The Lt Govr treats the house with great Complaisance, as I expected he 
would." Hawley Papers, I., Bancroft Collection. 



33] GO VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 3 3 

of the Legislature passed a resolve, to make valid their pro- 
ceedings ; which they would not have done, if they had 
thought the adjournment from the Town House, in Boston, 
however necessary, had been consistent with the before 
mentioned legal establishment." s The absence of the lieu- 
tenant governor prevented immediate reply. Under these 
circumstances the house issued a further defense of its action 
on the ground of necessity, and reaffirmed its adherence to 
the charter by proceeding at once to the election of coun- 
cillors. On the following day Hutchinson addressed the 
General Court, and also sent a message to the house. In 
this he insisted not only upon the grant by the charter to 
the governor of power to adjourn and prorogue the General 
Court, but also upon the unlimited nature of that power, re- 
gardless of custom or of the form of the writ as established 
by provincial law. He alluded to the adjournment to Salis- 
bury in 1737, by royal writ, when no necessity existed; and 
he made reference as well to the disputes upon this matter 
in the days of Shute and Burnet, in the time of the latter of 
whom, he concludes, " the dispute, as I apprehend, was 
settled ; and I cannot help being of opinion, that you are 
moving a matter which has been more than forty years at 
rest; . . ." 2 

The interchange of protest and reason continued, and 
early in June the house accepted a long report on the mat- 
ter which was made effective by the adoption, on June 7, of 
a further message to the lieutenant governor. In this they 
considered it " by no means expedient to proceed to busi- 
ness, while the General Assembly" was " thus constrained 
to hold their session out of the town of Boston." 3 In view 

1 May 3:, 1770; Speeches of the Governors of Massachusetts, 207. 

2 Ibid., 210. 

3 Cf. Eliot to Hollis, June 28, 1770. Collections of Mass. Hist. Soc, 4 series, 

IV., 452. 



34 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [34 

of the very important business awaiting their attention, they 
prayed the governor to remove the General Court " to its 
ancient, usual, and only convenient seat, the Town House, 
in Boston." T The intrinsic significance of this action was 
increased by the fact that in it the house was practically a 
unit, the vote for the adoption of the message being 96 to 6. 2 
Hutchinson immediately repeated from his point of view the 
arguments in the case and assured the house that if they 
should finally refuse to do business in Cambridge, which he 
hoped they would not, all the ill consequences would be at- 
tributed to them, and not to himself.^ The house then 
promptly adopted still more elaborate justifications of its 
course ; the council co-operated in this ; and thereupon fol- 
lowed for months an incessant reiteration of arguments and 
claims varying widely in justification and in convincing 
power. 4 

After two more years of such contention an end was finally 
reached. In the customary message of the house on the sub- 
ject, in May, 1772, was an expression not easily interpreted 
with confidence by the governor. His request for an explana- 
tion provoked a display of ill temper, and an episode that be- 
came somewhat significant. To his request the house replied 
that all the expressions of the house were " sufficiently clear 
and plain," and that, therefore, it was altogether needless to 

1 Speeches of the Governors of Massachusetts, 215. 

2 Ibid. The minority is given in Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, III., 
292, as Timothy Ruggles, Daniel Oliver, John Worthington, Benjamin Day, 
Elisha Porter, and John Ingersoll. 

3 Speeches of the Governors of Massachusetts, 217. 

4 By a resolution of June 13, 1770, the house ordered to be published a pamph- 
let of 83 pages called : "Proceedings of the Council, and the House of Representatives 
. . . . relative to .... holding .... The General Assembly .... in Cambridge', 
. . ." Also by order of the house there was printed a pamphlet of 66 pages entitled : 
" A Continuation of the Proceedings of tht House of Representatives, .... rela- 
tive to ... . holding The General Assembly at Harvard College, in Cambridge 
. . . ." Both were printed by Edes and Gill in 1770. 



35] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CH USE TTS 35 

make any explanation of them ; to which was added the hope 
that his excellency would not delay to give a full answer to 
the message. 1 To ihis he replied, " I must govern myself by 
the measure, not of your understanding, but my own. . . As 
reserved as you have been in your message to me, I will be 
unreserved and open with you." 2 Much more pungently he 
continues: "Whilst you dispute the authority by which I 
removed the Court from Boston, I do not intend to carry it 
thither again; . . ." 3 "This sudden step," as Hutchinson 
himself later wrote, " gave the governor much uneasiness." 
After some ten days, in order to prevent dissatisfaction 
among the people of the province, he laid his instructions 
and the message of the house before the council, and re- 
quired its opinion and advice, whether "he might remove the 
assembly to Boston, consistently with his instructions? They 
were unanimously of opinion that he might; and he caused 
the assembly to be adjourned to Boston accordingly." 4 
Thus was ended the contest and was afforded, in the words 
of the chief participant, an opportunity " to hope for a ses- 
sion without controversy." 5 A concession prompted by 
expediency could not, however, assure such result. On the 
contrary, the circumstances and the nature both of the con^ 

1 June 3, 1772; Speeches of the Governors of Massachusetts, 323. 

2 June 3, 1772; Ibid., 323. 

June 8, 1772, Joseph Hawley, Boston, wrote to Mrs. Mercy Hawley: "I am 
this minute Setting off for Cambridge. I think our Governour is bereft. You'l 
See by the Papers how he acts." Haiuley Papers, I., Bancroft Collection. 
May 9, 1772, Hutchinson wrote to [Israel Williams]: "Govt has but few sup- 
porters and they will not attend when they are most wanted." letters of T. 
Hutchinson to Israel Williams, 53, Bancroft Collection. Cf. Ibid., 57. 

June 22, 1772, Hutchinson wrote to T. Pownal: "If you was now in America 
you would be sick of it in a week and leave it. Ten years ago they had some notion 
of government. They have none now." Alass. Archives, 27, 346; reprinted in 
Hosmer, life of Hutchinson, 23 1. 

3 Speeches of the Governors of Mass., 323. 

4 Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, III., 356, 357. 5 Ibid., 357. 



36 FROM PRO VINCIAL TO COMMONWEAL TH [36 

test and of its apparent ending were such as to impress upon 
the colonists the imminent danger of being governed wholly 
by executive instructions from a distant power. 1 The possi- 
bility of being brought ultimately to such administrative 
subordination had been present from the beginning of the 
provincial period ; it was now by no means removed ; and it 
remained before the colonists as a certain incident of defeat 
both during the two years that were still to precede the final 
contest, and during the progress of that contest as well. 2 

In the time of Hutchinson also appeared a further question, 
which was not new, but which was of fundamental import- 
ance. 3 For decades the legislative control exercised over 
the governor by limiting or withholding grants of his salary 
had been repugnant to royalty. The requisition that the 
salary of the king's governor should be granted for an in- 
determinate or a relatively long period had been repeatedly 
and successfully resisted ; and original practice had been 
followed by voting annually the salary of the governor 

1 Cf. T. Hutchinson to John H. Hutchinson, February 14, 1772. Writing ot 
Pitt's speech on American affairs, he says : " Since that time the members of the 
Assembly grumble and mutter, and ask by what authority Acts of Parliament are 
mixed with our Provincial laws; and the House of Representatives have re- 
peatedly resolved that it is unconstitutional for the people to be governed by laws 
made by any power in which they are not represented." Mass. Archives, 27, 
296; Almon, Remembrancer, I ',77, no, III; reprinted in Hosmer, Life of 
Thomas Lfutchinson, 229. Cf Abington committee to Boston committee, July 
29, 1773; referring to Hutchinson, Oliver, Hallowell, and others: "If they are 
above Law they ought not to be allow'd to live among any humane Society." 
Revolutionary Corresp., I., 115, Bancroft Collection. 

2 Since the text was prepared the following, by a well known student of the 
period, has appeared : " Since the House flatly refused to proceed to business in 
any other place than the town-house in Boston, Hutchinson at last yielded. For 
four years the struggle had been maintained, much of the time almost solely by 
Samuel Adams. The insistence upon the point produced a profound effect upon 
public opinion, though in history its importance has not been appreciated." 
Hosmer, Life of HutcJrinson, 227. 

3 Cf. e.g. : Palfrey. History of New England, IV., 456, 498-503, 507, 512, 539. 



37] G VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 37 

with the other items of the provincial civil list. It was 
natural that the home government should aim to re- 
move its appointees from dependence upon the represen- 
tatives of democracy. This, apparently, could be accom- 
plished with ease by arranging that the governor should 
draw his salary, not from the provincial treasury, but from 
funds controlled by the home government. The effort to 
bring about this change set in a clear light the anomalous 
position of the governor; it made plain the divergence of 
those interests which the governor was supposed, respect- 
ively, to serve and to represent ; and it added to the broader 
controversy a further difficulty. 

Such difficulty finally appeared when, late in 1770, a bill 
was passed by the General Court, appropriating ^325 to 
Hutchinson for his support as lieutenant governor. To this 
Hutchinson did not give his assent; and his action in the 
following April 1 upon two similar appropriations was so 
long delayed that the house took the offensive. On the day 
after acknowledgment was made of the announcement " in 
form" of Hutchinson's receipt of his commission, the house 
addressed the governor with reference to his action upon the 
bill already mentioned and his failure to act upon two later 
bills. The members stated to him plainly that they were 
apprehensive that he was " under some restraint; " and that 
they could not account for it upon any other principle than 
his having provision for his " support in some new and un- 
precedented manner." 2 They asked for some assurance to 

1 April I, 1 771, Hutchinson wrote to Israel Williams: "Two Adams', Phillips, 
Hancock and two or three others who with the least reason have been the most 
injurious are all of any sort of consideration who stand out. I cannot expect any- 
great mark of regard from the House whilst the Boston Members are aided by a 
gentleman from your County who has so much influence." Letters of T. Hutch- 
inson to Israel Williams, 49-51, Bancroft Collection. 

Cf Ibid, to Ibid., Dec. 7, 1766; as to Joseph Hawley: "I have not the least 
doubt of his integrity . . . ." Ibid., 11. 

2 Speeches of the Governors, 298. 



38 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [38 

allay their apprehensions, and for a definite statement 
whether provision was made for his support, " as Governor 
of this province, independent of his Majesty's Commons in 
it." r In response, he alluded to the use of this new title for 
the house of representatives, and informed. them "that the 
King, Lords, and Commons, our supreme Legislature," had 
"determined it to be expedient to enable his Majesty to 
make a certain and adequate provision for the support of the 
civil government in the colonies," as his Majesty should 
judge necessary. 2 He explained his refusal to accept the 
appropriation as a step merely consistent with his duty to 
the king, and offered the further empty explanation : "Be- 
fore the close of the present session, I shall assent to, or re- 
ject the bills which shall have passed the two Houses, as it 
shall appear to me the same duty requires of me." 3 

At the time of its protest of June 19, 1771, against hold- 
ing the General Court at Cambridge, the house stated that 
according to the charter, the governor and other civil offi- 
cers were to be supported " by the free gift of the General 
Assembly;" and that the governor, by the charter, was to 
reside within the province, and be supported " by the free 
grants of the people. "* This position was maintained one 
year later when the consideration of a grant to the governor 
was again proposed. The rejection of the appropriation 
bill of 1 77 1 put the house "wholly at a loss to account for 
that measure," unless provision was made for the support of 
his excellency, " otherwise than by grants and acts of the 
General Assembly of the province." They insisted both 
that the governor should receive financial support and that 
it should come through appropriation by the General Court. 
They therefore asked for exact information concerning the 
sources whence the governor was receiving his salary. The 

1 Speeches of the Governors, 298. 2 Ibid., 299. 

3 Ibid., 298. * Ibid., 303. 



39] GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS 39 

reply came at the time Hutchinson adjourned the General 
Court to Boston. In his message of June 13, 1772, he an- 
nounced definitely that the king had provided for his sup- 
port, and stated most suggestively that, " as this is judged 
to be an adequate support, I must conclude it cannot be 
his Majesty's pleasure, that, without his special permission, 
which has not yet been signified to me, I should accept of 
any grant from the province, in consideration of the ordinary 
government services done, or to be done, by me." 1 

Thus understanding the situation, the house reviewed the 
constitutional question 2 and maintained that by the charter 
the General Assembly had full power to provide support for 
the governor, to determine what should be adequate to his 
support, and to raise the necessary funds. The innovations 
were condemned, and a series of resolutions was adopted 
which Hutchinson soon declared to be •' not well founded," 
but which, on the contrary, were such as tended " to alter 
the constitutional dependence of this colony upon the 
Crown, and upon the Supreme Legislative authority of Great 
Britain." 3 In this address of July 14, 1772, he also ex- 
plained the situation, both historically and constitutionally, 
and concluded by informing the house that they could not 
expect him even to petition, in pursuance of their resolves, 
that he might be allowed to receive a portion of his support 
from them. 4 The interpretation commonly placed upon the 
charter by the colonists was emphatically denied, and one 
point of vantage, long desired by the home government, was 
at last secured. The attainment of it, however, involved 
a denial of claims long and honestly maintained by the 
colonists, and by increasing its burden weakened the party 
which, for the moment, was politically successful. Success, 
nevertheless, gained under such circumstances, brought to 

] Speeches of the Governors, 325. 2 Ibid., 325-329. 

'"Ibid., 331. *Idid. t 336. 



40 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [40 

the defeated equal advantage, in that it helped to define a 
problem whose solution could v be effected only by extreme 
and dangerous measures or by compromise. The character 
and the conviction of both parties prevented the latter; 
toward the former an appreciable impetus was given by the 
controversy over the governor's salary. 

Closely associated with the effort of the crown thus to con- 
trol the executive, and to render him independent of the pro- 
vincial legislature, was the purpose to bring into similar sub- 
ordination the provincial judiciary. 1 The house of representa- 
tives, learning through the secretary of the province that the 
governor had not acted upon the customary grants recently 
made to the justices of the superior court, sent to him an 
address, February 3, 1773, and asked that he "would be 
pleased to make known to them the difficulty (if any there 
be) in your Excellency's mind, which prevents your assent- 
ing to said grants." Upon the general situation they con- 
tinue : "The people without doors are universally alarmed 2 
with the report that salaries are fixed to the offices of the 
said Justices, by order of the Crown ; and an unusual delay 
to confirm the grants now made, is judged by this House to 
be a sufficient apology for this inquiry." 3 On the following 
day Hutchinson informed them that an order for such an 
allowance of salaries had been made, although he was unable 
to state whether the warrants for such payments had been 

1 Cf. Works of John Adams, II., 316, 317, 328-332. 

2 Reply to Boston committee from Chatham, December 17, 1772: "We are 
greatly alarmed at the Governors Being made Independent of the grants of this 
province and at the Prevelant Report of the Leftenant Governors Judges of the 
Supearor Court of Judicatur as also the King's aturney and Silhsator Genaral being 
soon on that footing which if it should take affect (what will come next we know 
not but may easily Gess) we cannot but think it hath a direct tendency soon to 
compleet our Slavery . . . ." Revolutionary Corresp., I., 269, Bancroft Collec- 
tion. 

3 Speeches of the Governors, 365. 



4 1 ] • GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CH USE TTS 4 x 

issued. 1 This message, as its author later said, was " re- 
sented with much warmth" by the house. 2 Their reply, as 
reported by a committee of seven, including Samuel Adams 
and John Hancock, and presented on February 12, 1773, 
gave strong expression to the prevailing sentiment. The 
optimistic reference to the independence of the judiciary, 
made by King George III., in the speech on his accession to 
the throne, 3 was quoted, and allusion made to the probable 
misinformation upon which it was based. They expressed 
their conviction that it had been the design of the administra- 
tion to overthrow the constitution, and to introduce arbitrary- 
rule into the province, and they insisted that when they con- 
sidered the many attempts that had been made to render 
void those clauses in the charter upon which the freedom 
of the constitution depended, they "should be lost to all 
public feeling, should" they "not manifest a just resent- 
ment." 4 It was their opinion, furthermore, that no judge 
who had a " due regard to justice, or even to his own char- 
acter, would choose to be placed under such an undue bias 
as they must be under, in the opinion of this House, by ac- 
cepting of, and becoming dependent for their salaries upon 
the Crown." 5 They awaited an early assurance from the 
governor that the justices would refuse such support, granted 
thus in a manner not only obnoxious to the views of men of 
the province but even " repugnant to the charter, and utterly 
inconsistent with the safety of the rights, liberties, and prop- 
erties of the people." 6 

1 Speeches of the Governors, 365. Cf. Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, 
III., 386. 

2 Ibid., III., 387. 

3 Cf Parliamentary History, XV., 1007. Annual Register, 1761, 5th edit., 
part I., 243. 

4 Speeches of the Governors of Mass., 366. Cf Hutchinson, History of Massa- 
chusetts, III., 387. 

5 Speeches of the Governors, 366. 6 Ibid., 366, 367. 



42 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [42 

Such assurance not coming at once, the house, on Febru- 
ary 16, again addressed the governor, and asked whether he 
could satisfy it that the justices of the superior court had 
refused or would refuse to accept support from the crown ; 
an affirmative answer to which would " tend to promote his 
Majesty's service, and the peace and happiness of the peo- 
ple." x Immediately Hutchinson responded : " I most cer- 
tainly am not able, to inform you, that the Justices of the 
Superior Court have refused, or will refuse, to accept of 
their support from the Crown." 2 With the attitude of the 
governor thus by implication made clear, the house put 
itself on record by the adoption, on March 3, 1773, of a 
series of resolutions bearing upon the matter at issue. Re- 
ference was made in these to the acts of parliament of the 
preceding decade in accordance with which the king, 
"against the consent of the people," had appropriated a part 
of the provincial revenue to the support of a royal governor, 
and now was about to make a similar appropriation for the 
judiciary. The unrestricted authority of parliament to legis- 
late for the colonies was denied. The unlimited power of 
the General Court over the assessment, collection, and dis- 
posal of provincial revenue was asserted. They added that 
the dependence of the judges on the crown was unconstitu- 
tional, and destructive of that civil security which should 
pertain to a due execution of law ; that it tended to oppres- 
sion and " to the subversion of justice and equity;" 3 and, 

1 Speeches of the Governors, 367. 2 Ibid. 

3 Cf. action of Braintree, March, 1773: resolved, "That all civil officers are 
or ought to be Servants to the people & dependent on them for their official 
Support; and every instance to the contrary from [the] Governor down- 
wards tends to crush & destroy civil liberty." Revolutionary Corresp., I., 194, 
Bancroft Collection. 

Cf. action of Bristol, March 9, 1773: "the placing of Officers and Judges over 
us without our Consent and Affixing them their Stipends from home we hold is a 
Manifest Breach of the Law (Saving His Excellency the Governor and the 
Councell) and that them we have an undoubted Right to Stipulate with for their 
hire." Ibid., I., 207. 



43 ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 43 

furthermore, that any superior court judge holding commis- 
sion during the pleasure of the king, who should accept the 
support of the crown independent of the grants of the Gen- 
eral Court, would discover to the world, that he had not a 
" due sense of the importance of an impartial administration 
of justice," that he was an " enemy to the constitution," and 
had it " in his heart to promote the establishment of an arbi- 
trary government in the province." 1 

Some weeks after the adoption of these resolutions the 
two houses, in an official letter to Lord Dartmouth, 2 invoked 
his interposition for the recall of the warrants for the judges' 
salaries, if already issued, and urged strongly the protection 
of their charter rights, rights among which, they insist, was 
u the supporting of the officers of the Crown, by grants from 
the Assembly; and in an especial manner, the supporting of 
the Judges in the same way, on whose judgment the province 
is dependent, in the most important cases of life, liberty and 
property." 3 Such an appeal, however, could avail little. 
The policy of the home government was fixed, and the nat- 
ural course for the royal judges, as for the governor, was to 
accept the grant from the king and decline the provincial 
allowance. Such a step would have the advantage of pre- 
senting to both parties a definite issue, leading necessarily to 
some immediate and decisive result. This it did present, and 
the development of the problem was such that the colonists 
themselves, as in other cases, were obliged to make the first 
effort at its solution. Although postponed for some months 
after the letter was sent in June to Dartmouth, the final 

1 Speeches of the Governors, 397, 398. As to the last resolve: "This resolve, 
like many others, was ambiguous and delusive." Hutchinson, History of Mass., 
III., 390. 

2 Dated June 29, 1773. References are made to this, and a general view of the 
contest is given, in the letter of Thomas Cushing, Boston, August 22, 1773, to the 
Earl of Dartmouth. Stevens, Facsimiles, no. 2028. 

3 Speeches of the Governors, 399. 



44 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [44 

action necessarily was extreme, for it was recognized that 
upon this matter " the increase of troubles rendered all ex- 
pedients insignificant and vain." 1 

The step now taken by the colonists was, in brief, an effort 
to subordinate the judiciary to the legislature, and to assert 
even to the utmost the control of the provincial assembly 
over the judges. The latter were asked to give assurance 
that they would not accept financial support from the crown. 
In response the reasonableness, and even the necessity, of 
such support was suggested, 2 and a palliation by some 
attempted of the prospective conquest of provincial judges 
by royal gold. 3 No cavilling availed ; nor would the rep- 
resentatives entertain uncertain professions. Their determi- 
nation to make the judges financially dependent on the 
colonial assembly resulted in drawing from each associate 
judge on the superior court bench a plainly stated assurance 
that no part of any salary granted by the king would be 
accepted. 

In a measure, the colonists were successful. From Chief 
Justice Peter Oliver, however, could not be extorted the 
guarantee given by his associates. He stood alone in main- 
taining his position. His fortitude and his own confident 
justification were answered by a blunt remonstrance from the 
house to the governor and council, in which Oliver's per- 
versity and corruption, his hostility to the established forms 
of government, and his undue bias, were cited in support of 

1 Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, III., 390. 

2 In this connection it is significant to notice that on February 19, 1779, Judges 
Wm. Cushing, Jedediah Foster, David Sewall, and James Sullivan, notified the 
house of representatives that they would be obliged to resign their commissions, 
as with the allowances granted they were unable to perform their duties " with 
any Degree of Reputation or Justice to their Families, . . . ." Journal, House 
of Representatives. 

3 Cf Abington committee to Boston committee of correspondence, July 29, 
1773 : " Well might the inspired Penman pronounce the love of Money the Root 
of all Evil." Revolutionary Corresp., I., 115, Bancroft Collection. 



45] GO VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 45 

a demand for his prompt removal. 1 This the governor, in- 
terpreting his own powers, did not lay before the council, 
but answered himself, and to the effect that a compliance 
with its request would constitute a breach of his official trust. 
Thereupon the house appealed to the council for guidance, 
while to the governor was addressed a further petition, read 
by the speaker in the presence of the whole house. Their 
request that in the matters under consideration the governor 
should act only upon the advice of the council was promptly 
denied. 

The house then had recourse to a more determined step. 2 
It was immediately voted to impeach the chief justice^ and 
a committee was ordered to draw articles of impeachment. 4 

1 Cf. Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, III., 444. 

2 T. Hutchinson, Boston, April 7, 1773 [to Israel Williams] : "I have been in 
the Court a long time, but I do not remember ever to have known before a House 
of Representatives capable of voting unanimously according to the direction of 
their leader, and yet this seems to have been the case with the late House, for I 
could not find any of them who could give any account of their messages after 
they had voted them." Letters of 1\ Hutchinson to Israel Williams, 61, Ban- 
croft Collection. 

Cf Ibid, to Ibid., Boston, July 20, 1773: "I pitied the poor members, more 
than one half of them being forced to vote in verba magistri either directly 
against their judgment, or without understanding what they voted." Ibid., 65. 

3 Cf Works of John Adams, I., 137, et sea. 

4 In these the formal statement is that Oliver " did on or about the tenth Day 
of January 1774 at Boston in the County of Suffolk, take and receive and resolve 
for the future to take and receive from his Majesty's Ministers and Servants, a 
Grant or Salary for his Services as Chief Justice of the said Superiour Court 
against his own knowledge of the said Charter and of the way and manner pre- 
scribed therein for the support of his Majesty's Government in the Province, and 
contrary to uninterrupted and approved usage and Custom since the erecting and 
Constituting of the said Court." They reserve significantly the " Liberty of ex- 
hibiting at any time hereafter to the Governor and Council or to the Council 
only, any Complaints . . . ." The articles are given with Oliver's letter to the 
house of representatives, Middleborough, February 3, 1774. Revolutionary 
Corresp., III., 21-31, Bancroft Collection. The articles of impeachment were 
printed in the Essex Gazette, no. 293, March 1-8, 1774, and in Mass. Gazette, 
(Draper), March 3. 



46 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [46 

The governor was asked to be in the chair, that the articles 
might be presented formally to governor and council. The 
governor, however, would admit neither the propriety of the 
action nor his own competency in the case. Again the 
house was checked in its plan. Nevertheless, the governor's 
presence in the chair was presumed, and under that supposi- 
tion the articles of impeachment were read. It was insisted 
that there must be within the province some power qualified 
to determine upon the misdemeanors of public officers and 
to effect their removal. According to the house the gov- 
ernor and council were qualified. In the opinion of the gov- 
ernor, he was obliged to act with the council only in two 
specified cases, neither of which was the one in question. 
Several possibilities, as that the council might proceed alone 
to act as the judicial body, confronted the governor, and to 
throw the whole matter again into the suspense of inaction 
he resolved to prorogue the General Court. This act 
was not accompanied, as usual, by the assembling of both 
houses before the governor in the council chamber to hear 
his closing speech, but, instead, the province secretary was 
sent to each house and there made the announcement. 
Now, however, as again some few months later, he was kept 
waiting outside the closed door of the house of representa- 
tives until that body, warned only when the message was 
being read to the council, had time in which to provide 
somewhat for the future and to declare that they had done 
all that, " in the capacity of representatives of the people in 
this court, can be done, for the removal of Peter Oliver, esq., 
the chief justice, from his seat in the superior court ; and 
that it must be presumed that the governor's refusing to 
take any measures therein, is because he also receives his 
support from the crown." 1 Some days thereafter the Gen- 

1 Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, III., 453, 454. 



47] GO VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 47 

eral Court was dissolved by executive proclamation. 1 Then, 
as the governor himself later wrote, "All legislative, as well 
as executive power was gone, and the danger of revolt was 
daily increasing." 2 

In no department was this imminent anarchy more striking 
than in the judicial, in which now no settlement had been 
reached, and in which the postponement of such could serve 
little purpose other than the increase of tension and the 
removal of any possibility of amicable accommodation. 
Oliver remained unmoved in his convenient and helpful con- 
viction that stipends from the crown might be legally 
accepted. The maintenance of the opposite view by the 
colonists was enforced by their repeated and outspoken 
refusal to be sworn as jurors in any court in which the pro- 
scribed chief justice might be upon the bench. Thus the 
situation was one of suppressed hostility, although such it 
could not long remain. The contest with reference to the 
origin and control of the salaries of the highest provincial 
court rapidly disappeared, or was excluded from attention by 
the rise of other questions, in essence as old, but apparently 
grasped as the newer questions, as those of the present 
rather than of the past, those in connection with which the 
actual crisis was to arise. 

The parliamentary legislation with reference to Massachu- 
setts made this question, like others, a mere incident of the 
more fundamental and far-reaching issues. To be sure, the 

1 Cf. Works of John Adams, II., 335. 

2 Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, III., 455. Abington Committee to 
Boston Committee of Correspondence; July 29, 1773: "A fine Goverment 
this ! ! ! Is Mr. Hutchinson Governor ! . . . P. S. We apprehend Mr. Hutchin- 
son in his great Zeal for the abridgment of English Liberty need take good care 
least he hall the reins of Goverment too Strait, perhaps they may Snap assunder, 
& his Secret confidential plan tumble down aboute his Ears." Revolutionary 
Corresp., L, 117, Bancroft Collection. 



48 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [48 

treatment early accorded Peter Oliver 1 was pursued vigor- 
ously in the exciting summer months, but at that time the 
salary question was obscured by the greater question of the 
establishment of courts reorganized on lines recently dictated 
by parliament. Upon that question, as will be seen, the 
conflict resulted in the summary and, as was to be proven, 
the permanent closing of royal courts in the province. 

The acts of parliament, to one of which allusion has been 
made, which were passed with especial reference to Massa- 
chusetts in the spring of 1774, enforce the view indicated in 
the preceding paragraphs, and present, as well, an additional 
phase of the situation. The affairs of Massachusetts had for 
a decade claimed the unusual attention of the ministry, and 
had impressed those conversant with the situation that the 
interests of governors and governed had ceased even pre- 
sumably or approximately to coincide. The recognition of 
this fact must inevitably lead to greater irritation, and to the 
assertion of such claims and theories as would necessitate a 
climax of unqualified opposition. The result of such friction 
and the occasion for such opposition appeared in the statutes 
just mentioned. Such response to the ill-tempered conduct 
of Massachusetts served chiefly to promote dissatisfaction, 
to increase the spirit of defiance, and to stimulate resistance. 
The parliamentary attempt to destroy the elective jury, to 
change the nature of the council, and to modify the compe- 
tence of town meetings, involved the denial of all theories of 
provincial politics and government previously advanced by 
the colonists. Extreme adherence to those theories, if con- 
sistently maintained, would now result in an appeal to more 
than argument or law. The firmness of each party in the 

1 Cf. T. Hutchinson, Boston, April 12, 1774, to Israel Williams: " I leave the 
Chief Justice to do what he thinks fit. I know what I could have done when I 
was in his station." Letters of 7'. Hutchinson to Israel Williams, 85, Bancroft 
Collection. 



49] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS ^g 

support of its professions made necessary such an appeal. 1 
The result, as will appear, was definite, and to the cause of 
parliament and the king it was fatal. Such, however, was no 
more than the natural result of the attempt to subordinate 
provincial governments and administration to the will of 
parliament, an attempt made, as it was, by a government 
which possessed neither wisdom nor resources sufficient to 
assure the success of its efforts, and made especially at an 
inauspicious time, at the close of a decade which had been 
filled with irritating events. 

Great as had been the contention of the colonists for 
u chartered" rights, all such basis for their claims was now 
withdrawn. For them now it was no longer a contest over 
the interpretation of their charter. It became rather a con- 
test over the continuance of the charter and over the nature 
of the rights therein assured to the king's subjects. The in- 
definiteness and incompleteness of the provincial charter, 
either as an instrument of government or as a guarantee of 
rights, had either directly occasioned or plainly made possi- 
ble conflicts of opinion and of authority, the continuance of 
which threatened in no uncertain way the destruction of the 
system which it embodied. For this event, indeed, these 
conflicts made such direct preparation that the issue, unless 
modified by compromise or averted by concession, was early 
made plain and inevitable. Neither compromise nor conces- 
sion was resorted to by the home government, but full effect 

x The preamble of a report accepted by the town of Gorham, January 7, 1773, 
read : " We only add that our old Captain is still living. . . . Many of our 
Families have been inured to the Danger and fatigue of flying to Garrison. . . . 
many of our Watch boxes are still in being; some of our Women have been used 
to handle the Cartridge, and load the Musquet, and the Swords which we whet 
and brightned for our Enemies are not yet grown rusty." Revolutionary 
Corresp., I., 377, Bancroft Collection. Cf. Letter of town of Lincoln, December 
27» J 773- Ibid., I., $13. 

Cf. Diary of Nath'l Ames, Sept. 9, 1774: "appearance of Civil War." Ded- 
ham Hist. Register, III., 72. 



50 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [50 

was given to the possibilities inherent in the provincial ele- 
ments of the Massachusetts system. 

Political circumstances made such conflicts more frequent 
and more natural in Massachusetts than elsewhere. In a 
purely royal province such assertion of popular rights would 
have been illogical and impossible. In a typical corporate 
colony such limitation of local political activity and such 
invasion of local political independence would have been 
neither tolerated by one party nor attempted by the other. 
The union, however, of elements of both systems, and the 
effort to harmonize in co-ordinate lines of action parties 
whose interests were directly opposed, could result ulti- 
mately in little less than absolute failure. This, in essence, 
was the outcome of the development in Massachusetts, 
although it was upon other lines that the political contest 
was chiefly fought out, lines on which the contest could be 
made to appear that of America rather than that merely 
of Massachusetts ; from which expansion the broader con- 
test was accorded a relatively excessive significance both by 
contemporaneous nationalism and by subsequent patriotism. 

The legislation of 1774, to which reference has been made, 
presented tangibly to Massachusetts not only the question 
of the inviolability of royal charters, but also the whole sub- 
ject of the relation between parliament and the colonial and 
provincial dependencies. 1 With this became involved, then, 
the efforts, on the one hand, to correlate parliamentary taxa- 
tion with colonial representation, and, on the other hand, to 
maintain the authority, throughout both the kingdom and its 
outlying possessions, of the administrative boards established 

Siting the statutes 4 Geo. III., ch. 15, 34; 5 Geo. III., ch. 25; 6 Geo. III., 
ch. 52; 7 Geo. III., ch. 41, 46; 8 Geo. III., ch. 22; the three statutes relative 
to Massachusetts, the Canada Bill, and the Dock Yard Act, Joseph Warren 
wrote to Joseph Hawley : " Upon a careful examination of the above Acts I am 
fully of opinion that they more than justify the nth Resolve of the continental 
Congress concerning them." Hawley Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. 



5 i ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 5 j 

by parliament. 1 This led naturally to a discussion of the 
entire relations between the home government and its Amer- 
ican possessions. 2 Upon the first of these matters much, 
incidental to general history, has been written, and commonly 
in a uniform strain. The history of the time has been well 
threshed. Not, however, until recently has it become possi- 
ble to treat the constitutional question adequately and in a 
way consistent with modern scientific thought. It should be 
unnecessary, and it is beyond the present purpose, to enter 
again the discussion of the political and constitutional ques- 
tions then involved. Suffice it to insist upon the obvious 
and general features shown in the development of those rela- 
tions. In these features will be emphasized a lack of con- 
cord in interests which will do much to make the Revolution 
appear not as a distinct political episode occasioned by 
disruptive influences spontaneously created and suddenly 
given full play, but rather as the normal ending of years of 
faithful adherence to divergent policies, of the firm main- 
tenance of incompatible political theories, and of bitter dis- 
pute over the fundamental principles upon which political 
society rests and by which it is controlled. 

In a large measure, the history of the colony and of the 
province was the preparation for the Revolution. 3 The 

1 Cf District of Montague, to Boston committee of correspondence, April 6, 
1773: "How ministerial Instructions have So much to do with our Constitution 
as that one Branch of our Legislature should become a meer ministerial Engine 
we find not : Since the Governor, Council & House of Representatives are by 
Charter constituted a compleat Legislative Body with inherent Powers to make 
all Laws for ordering, regulating & taxing the Inhabitants of the Province." 
Revolutionary Corresp., Bancroft Collection, L, 645. 

2 E. g., as to control of manufactures and trade, see action of Mendon, March 
I, 1773. Revolutionary Corresp., Bancroft Collection, I., 640, 641. 

Cf. Letters of Horace Walpole, IV., 479. Wynne, British Empire in America, 
II., 380. Pownall, Administration of the Colonies, 102. 
Cf Annual Register, 1765, 3d Edit., part I, p. 24. 

3 The contests over the vetoing of the choice of speaker and of councillors, the 



52 FROM PRO VINCIAL TO COMMONWEAL TH [52 

demagoguism of such as Samuel Adams imparted to that 
epoch a theatrical spontaneity which to some may have ex- 
cluded any thought of the period preceding the outburst. 
Yet in those decades had been operating influences both 
silent and strong which, when attaining expression, were to 
make it undeniable that the position of the colonists was 
anomalous in many ways, with reference both to theory and 
to fact. For two centuries, or for a longer period, the 
thought of Englishmen had been directed to those new lines 
of social, ecclesiastical, and, later, of political organization, 
the recognition of which was ultimately to give political life 
of a new type to the English subject. Such reorganization 
of political society was first effected in the New England 
colonies. There were implanted those ideas of religion, of 
politics, and of economics which were to be thrown into such 
significant prominence in the early years of George III. 
To him and his ministers the growth of those ideas presented 
a new and an ominous problem in colonial administration. 
It was so presented that, unless the administration should 
prove untrue to its trust or the colonists should inconsist- 
ently renounce their professions, a permanent decision could 
be attained only after the employment of sufficient force to 
revolutionize the provincial government. This, in reality, 
was the conclusion reached after parliament essayed funda- 
mentally to alter the constitutional arrangements based on 
the charter of 1691. The steps thereafter are clearly defined. 
The enforcement of the statutory reforms precipitated the 
struggle in regard to the new mandamus council and the 
newly prescribed royal courts. It introduced the sudden 

trouble with reference to the letters of Hutchinson and to the delivery of the 
Castle, the proposal to tax the property of royal customs commissioners, the dis- 
putes even over the use of the regnal dates and over the style of enactment, and 
several other incidents, might be adduced to enforce still more strongly the views 
suggested. 



53] GOVERNMENT IN MASSA CHU SETTS 1 3 

accession to large power of various extra-constitutional 
bodies. It was promptly followed by the organization of a 
revolutionary body representing the entire province, and by 
the institution of effective provisional government. 



CHAPTER III 

THE END OF PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT 

§ i. The Mandamus Council 

In the American provinces the council, whether as a com- 
ponent of the legislature or as an administrative and judicial 
body, was an instrument of royalty. It was such in Massa- 
chusetts until the election of Bowdoin to the upper house; 1 
at that time the opponents of the Hutchinson faction were 
given a leader who was able permanently to transfer the 
support of the council from the king's governor to the 
people's house of representatives. 2 For the final years of 
its existence the royal council became "popular" in its 
opinions and its policy. With house and council united 
against the royal executive, a radical change was necessarily 
effected, and thenceforward the result of the conflict was no 
longer doubtful. To have prevented such a combination 
and to mitigate the effects of any results thereof, as well as 
to assure the ascendency of the home government, was the 
natural aim of king and parliament. 3 The existence of such 
a purpose was finally and distinctly avowed in the provisions 

1 Cf. Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, III., 156. Cf. Parliamentary 
History, XVI., 986. 

2 Cf. Ibid., XVI., 986. 

3 Cf. Thomas Hutchinson, Boston, January 26, 1769, to Israel Williams: "It 
is generally believed in England that we shall never have another election of 
Councillors. // is certainly a part of Ld H's plan that we should not. ... I 
had no thought of this step. I rather expected a Quo Warranto or a Bill 
brought into Parlt to disannull the Charter . . . ." Letters of T. Hutchinson to 
Israel Williams, 17, Bancroft Collection. 

54 f54 



55] GO VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS . 5 5 

of the statute, 14 Geo. III., ch. 45 . x By this it was enacted 
that after August 1 the council elected in May, in accordance 
with the charter of 1691, should cease to exist, and its 
powers be abrogated. The influential upper house was now 
to be succeeded by a body of similar powers appointed by 
the crown. With this act regulating the government of 
Massachusetts was sent the list of royal appointees to the 
new council. On the receipt of such by the governor his 
course was clearly defined, and, as he wrote shortly thereafter, 
'"No time was lost in forming the new Council." 2 In the 
attempted formation of that, however, came one of the sig- 
nificant crises of 1774 in Massachusetts. 3 It was a crisis, 
furthermore, for which the government should have been 
prepared, for the future was not obscure. Even in the first 
week in June, when he was transmitting the list of the new 
council to Governor Gage, Lord Dartmouth had written : 
"There is little room to hope that every one of the persons 
whom his Majesty has appointed to be of his council, will be 
induced to accept that honor, for there can be no doubt that 
every art will be practiced to intimidate and prejudice." 

As a warning, the secretary's letter was timely ; as a 
prophecy, it was accurate. 4 The discussion of the earlier 
weeks was speedily followed by intimidation. In the discus- 
sion each side stood on ground in its own view perfectly 
defensible ; the colonists, on the one hand, abided by their 

1 Cf Speech of Lord North, March 28, 1774: "I propose, in this Bill, to take 
the executive power from the hands of the democratic part of the government; 
. . . ." Parliamentary History, XVII., 1193. Cf. Charters and General Laws 
of Mass., 785-796. 

2 To Dartmouth, August 27, 1774. 4 American Archives, I., 741. 

3 Cf. Joseph Hawley's "Broken Hints:" "It will necessarily be a question, 
whether the new government of this province shall be suffered to take place at 
all, — or whether it shall be immediately withstood and resisted?" Niles, Prin- 
ciples and Acts, 324; Works of John Adams, IX., 641-643. 

4 Cf. "Fabius," in the Mass. Spy, no. 186, August 25, 1774. 



56 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [$£ 

charter; 1 on the other hand, the government party rested 
with equal confidence on the competency of parliament and 
the prerogatives of the crown. 2 Thus, citing analogies, it was 
claimed that King William had, without legal process or act 
of parliament, " resumed" the governments of Maryland and 
Pennsylvania because the conditions of the grant had been 
broken, "though not in so great a degree as the people of 
Massachusetts Bay have done." 3 George I., it was urged, 
had " resumed" the government of South Carolina, and an 
abundance of past examples afforded sufficient basis for the 
supposition that the course of king and parliament was 
proper and constitutional. It involved, however, an altera- 
tion of the charter of 1691, and such alteration, if not sanc- 
tioned by each of the original parties to what the colonists 
chose to consider a contractual instrument, was held by their 
reasoning to be quite beyond a pretence of constitutionality. 4 

1 Cf. Joseph Hawley's " Broken Hints:" "It is easy to demonstrate that the 
regulation act will soon annihilate every thing of value in the charter, introduce 
perfect despotism, and render the house of representatives a mere form and 
ministerial engine." Niles, Principles and Acts, 324. 

2 Cf. Parliamentary History, XVIII., 290. 

s [Sir J. Dalrymple.] The Address of the People of Great Britain to the In- 
habitants of America, p. 49. 

* Cf Oration by Joseph Warren, at Boston, March 5, 1772: "After various 
struggles, which, during the tyrannic reigns of the house of Stuart, were con- 
stantly kept up between right and wrong, between liberty and slavery, the con- 
nection between Great Britain and this colony was settled in the reign of king 
William and queen Mary, by a compact, the conditions of which were expressed 
in a charter; . . ." Niles, Principles and Acts, 5. 

Cf Oration by Joseph Warren, at Boston, March 6, 1775 : "And it is evident 
that the property in this country has been acquired by our own labor; it is the 
duty of the people of Great Britain, to produce some compact in which we have 
explicitly given up to them a right to dispose of our persons or property.' 1 '' Ibid., 19. 

Cf Oration by James Lovell, at Boston, April 2, 1771 : " The king of England 
was said to be the royal landlord of this territory; with him they entered into 
mutual, sacred compact, by which the price of tenure and the rules of manage- 
ment, were fairly stated." Ibid., 3. 

Cf Oration by Peter Thacher, at Watertown, March 5, 1776: "When the 



5 7 ] GO VERNMEN T IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 57 

The document was not, in their view, a grant alterable or re- 
vocable at the will of the grantor, but rather an affirmation 
and guarantee of certain rights and relations which could not 
be legally set aside by either party acting independently. 1 
Divergent lines of thought and action necessarily resulted 
from such views. Under the circumstances, it was not by 
argument that a conclusion could be reached. The possibil- 
ity of harmony was daily decreasing, and when, on August 
8, 1774, Governor Gage assembled the new council and ap- 
pointed a further meeting for August 16, the people saw the 
threatened destruction of their charter, and knew how to 
act. Owing to the inadequacy of the royal government 
their acts were effective, even if so radical as to be reprehen- 
sible. The treatment accorded the newly appointed coun- 
cillors was, to be sure, hardly praiseworthy; less so, how- 
ever, was the course of the government in allowing the 
possibility of such treatment. The action of the people at 
first took a thoroughly disorderly turn. After the success 

ambition of princes induces them to break over the sacred barriers of social com- 
pact, and to violate those rights, which it is their duty to defend, they will leave 
no methods unessayed to bring the People to acquiesce in their unjustifiable en- 
croachments." Ibid., 23. 

Cf. Message of house of representatives to lieut. gov., August 1, 1770: 
" It is true, we consider the charter as such a compact, and agree that both 
parties are held." Speeches of the Governors, 246. 

Cf. Protest of house of representatives, June 19, 1771. Ibid., 302. 

1 Lexington, December 31, 1772, passes a vote referring to the charter as "a 
sacred Compact between them & the Crown . . . ." Revolutionary Corresp., 
I., 493, Bancroft Collection. 

Cf Report accepted by the conference at Boston, August 27, 1774: "whereas 
no power on earth hath a right without the consent of this Province, to alter the 
minutest tittle of its Charter . . . ." Revolutionary Corresp., III., 61-63, Ban- 
croft Collection. Cf. Ibid., I., 1021. Attleborough, January 18, 1773, to Boston 
committee : " our Subjection to the Crown of Great Brittain must be considered 
as an act of our own Election, how far that Subjection was made and in what 
manner, the Brittish Government Can Possably Reach over the Athlantic to have 
any Influence at all upon us, is known only by the Stipulation Between us and 
the King of Great Brittain Expressed in our Charter; . . . ." Ibid., I., 136. 



58 fX OM PR O VINCIAL TO COMMONWEAL TH [58 

of efforts of that type they were willing to take merely a de- 
fensive position free from violence. 

As in the overthrow of the royal courts, the Massachu- 
setts men went quickly and vigorously beyond the limits of 
propriety, so in their disposal of this equally obnoxious por- 
tion of the royal government, their actions were early such 
as to secure success, if not commendation. 1 In brief, when 
the list of nominees was made known, a prompt effort was 
made to induce the colonists in question to decline the oaths 
of office, or, if they had been taken, to resign their mandamus 
appointments. A council named by the king was naturally 
not a body of men disposed to follow the dictates of the 
colonial mob ; from which divergence of interests and affilia- 

1 Boston Gazette, no. 1012, September 5, 1774, states that on August 27, 1000 
men of Worcester county called on John Murray and demanded his resignation 
from the Council and his publication of it by September 10. Murray was one of 
the 13 who took the oath on August 16; he retired to Boston on signs of trouble. 

Ibid., contains an account of Thomas Oliver's resigning' when his- house at 
Cambridge was, on September 2, surrounded by 4000 men. 

Ibid., speaks of " the new Divan (consisting of the wretched Fugitives with 
whom the just indignation of their respective Townsmen by a well deserved Ex- 
pulsion, have filled this capital) usurped the Seats round the Council Board in 
Boston." 

Gov. Gage to Lord Dartmouth, Salem, August 27, 1774, mentions the episode 
on the road near Worcester when the crowd used force on Mr. Ruggles " with 
intent to stop him, but he made his way through them." " Mr. Ruggles, of the 
new Council, is afraid to take his seat as Judge of the Inferiour Court, which sets 
at Worcester, on the 7th of next month; . . . ." Gage refers to the possibility 
of being obliged to send troops thither. Parliamentary History, XVIII., 
90; also in 4 American Archives, I., 741-743. In his letter September 2, 1774, 
to Lord Dartmouth, Gage mentioned the enforced retreat to Boston of Ruggles, 
Edson, Murray, Leonard, Loring, and Pepperell, the forced resignation of Paine, 
and the ill treatment of Willard in Connecticut. Parliamentary History, XVIIL, 
94; also in 4 American Archives, I., 767. He mentions 7 resignations. 

In his diary for 1774 Peter Oliver wrote: "Nothing but mobs and riots all 
this summer. Wednesday the 14th of Sepr I was mobbed." Diary and Letters 
of Thos. Hutchinson, I., 1 5 1. 

Cf. Frothingham, History of Charlestown, 302-305. Cf Letter of Thomas 
Oliver, September 7, 1774, in Mass. Gazette (Draper), no. 3702, September 8, 1774. 



59] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 59 

tions arose an obvious occasion for the persuasion even of 
violence. 1 To threats of personal harm and to the ill bodings 
of a thoroughly aroused and resolute people the new coun- 
cillors of necessity yielded, and to Gage was left from the 
original thirty-six a number insufficient to form a quorum. 2 
He was then, as a colonist wrote, " reduced to a miserable 
dilemma — the Council is daily forsaking him." 3 But even 
supposing the theoretical completeness of his new council, 
Gage at the same time foresaw a further possibility when he 
wrote to Lord Dartmouth : " The Council being formed, the 
Assembly must act with it, or annihilate the Legislature, and 
there is a surmise that will be the case;" 4 and with keen 
understanding he soon thereafter outlined the situation with 
remarkable clearness for one in his position when he ad- 
mitted that civil government was " near its end," 5 and con- 
tinued : " Precepts are issued for the calling an assembly in 
the beginning of next month, though uncertain whether the 

1 Cf. New York Journal, no. 1654. 

2 Gov. Gage to Lord Dartmouth, August 27, 1774, says 24 "have accepted the 
honor." Parliamentary History, XVIII., 90. 

As to the taking of the oath on August 8 by 1 1 councillors, including Lt. Gov. 
Oliver, see Boston Gazette, no. 1009, August 15, 1774; the report of the taking 
of the oath by 11 others on August 16 in the Boston Gazette, no. 1010, August 
22, 1774. Yet W. H. Whitmore, The Massachusetts Civil List, p. 172, says 
only 10 took the oath of office. Only 14 of the 36 remained in service. Acts 
and Resolves of Mass., V., 507; Essex Instittcte Historical Collections, XIII., 33. 
In The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, XXVIII., 61, 62, 
is a list of 24 who were sworn in; and a list of 9 of these who resigned. In 
Journal and Letters of Samuel Curwen, N. Y., 1842, p. 438, is given a list of 10, 
presumably those who alone took the oath of office. 

3 Nath'l Noyes, Boston, August 30, 1774. New England Historical and 
Genealogical Register, April, 1889. 

4 Gov. Gage to Lord Dartmouth, Salem, August 27, 1774. 4 American 
Archives, I., 741-743. 

5 On September 11, 1774, King George wrote to Lord North: "... the dye 
[sic] is now cast, the Colonies must either submit or triumph." Donne, Corres- 
pondence of George III. with Lord North, I., 202. 



6o FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH \§cy 

people will chuse representatives : but we may be assured if 
chosen they will not act with the new council ; and it is sup- 
posed, the project has been to annihilate the said council,, 
before meeting, to throw the refusal upon the governor to 
act with the old council elected last session ; so that we 
shall shortly be without law or legislative power." 1 

This forecast by the governor was remarkably accurate. 2 
The towns uniformly instructed their representatives to give 
no regard to the mandamus council; 3 they threw upon the 
executive the responsibility for his refusal to act with the old 
council ; and disregarding as illegal the governor's interme- 
diate revocation of writs of election, they proceeded upon 
the authority of the towns and began to " organize the revo- 
lution." 4 The destruction of the mandamus council thus was 
only one step towards the dissolution of royal authority in 
Massachusetts. Considered by itself the attempt thus sum- 
marily to regulate the colonial upper house was one phase 
in a rapidly unfolding series of events ; the effort was char- 
acteristic of the aims and methods of the home government; 
the result was indicative of the approach of a new era. The 
action of the towns attained its end; 5 the new council was 

1 Gov. Gage to Lord Dartmouth, September 2, 1774. Parliamentary History, 
XVIII., 96, 97. 

September 4, 1774, Paul Revere wrote to John Lamb: "... our new- 
fangled counsellors are resigning their places every day; . . . ." Frothingham, 
Life of Warren, 359. 

2 "The late Act for better regulating the civil government of this province has 
operated just as I expected it would. It has, in effect, dissolved the Government. 
The people will never acknowledge the new counsellors. ... A stop is also put 
to the holding the courts of justice upon the new plan. Thus we have neither 
legislative nor executive powers left in the province." Boston letter of Septem- 
ber 13, 1774, in London Chronicle, November 18, 1774. Frothingham, Life of 
Joseph Warren, 373. 

3 E.g., Boston Town Records, XVIIL, 192. 

* Lecky, History of England in the Eighteenth Century, III., 420. 

3 For instructions or votes of towns against the recognition of this Council, 



^ ! ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 5 x 

without recognition and without power. The body was 
from the beginning a nullity, and received no more subse- 
quent notice than was involved in the repeated votes of the 
the Provincial Congress directed against those who had 
received, and had not resigned, mandamus commissions. 

§ 2 . Withdrawal of the Royal Executive 

It is evident that after the events of August, September, 
and October, 1774, the royal governor became an official 
whose authority and whose functions were largely titular. 1 
His legislative powers, while no General Court existed, were 
virtually in suspense ; the enforced adjournment of royal 
courts limited, and practically removed, the possibility of an 
exercise of judicial functions by the head of the province ; 
and the legal action of the governor upon such matters, as 
well as upon many affairs of an executive nature, was made 
impossible by the complications which had deprived him of 
a council. The subordinate departments of the executive 
branch transferred, with practical uniformity, their recogni- 
tion and their obedience to the representatives of the people 
in the Provincial Congress, and the effective authority of Gage 

see: for Town of Lexington, September 26, 1774, Hudson, History of Lexington, 
103; Framingham, September 30, 1774, Barry, History of Framingham, 91; 
Boston, September 21, 1774, Boston Gazette, no. 1015, September 26, 1774; 
Cambridge, October 3, 1774, Holliston, October 3, 1774, Maiden, September 20, 
1 774, Lincoln Papers, Library of the American Antiquarian Society. 

1 Cf Samuel Peters, Boston, October 1, 1774, to Rev. Dr. Auchmuty, New 
York : Speaks of the uprising on September 4, " when the Preachers & Magis- 
trates left the Pulpit &c for the Gun and Drum, and set off for Boston, cursing the 
King, Lord North, Genii Gage, the Bishops, and their cursed Curates, and the 
Church of England and for my telling the Church People not to take up Arms 
&c it being high Treason &c the Sons of Liberty have almost killd one of my 
Church, Tarrd and feathered two, abused others, and on 6th day destroyed my 
Windows & Rent my Cloaths — even my Gown & Cassock &c crying out damn 
the Church, the Rags of Popery &c &c their Rebellion is obvious, Treason is 
common, and Barbarity is their daily Diversion — the Lord deliver us from An- 
archy." Revolutionary Corresp., II., 273, Bancroft Collection. 



62 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH Vp z 

was limited in its extent to the zone of British military 
influence ; the development is shown in the manner in which, 
in this man holding one commission as a chief executive and 
another as a military commander, the character and activity 
of the former official disappear in those of the latter. 

The assembling of such a body as the Provincial Congress 
fell properly within the cognizance of the royal governor, and 
the position taken by it in its assertions and actions made 
essential on his part some treatment of the body which would 
define its nature and the character of its acts, and which would 
effectually impose upon it the responsibility for its course.. 
Gage did endeavor to convince the Congress of the illegality 
of its course and of its responsibility for the consequences ; 
but words alone could not suffice. The early interchange of 
views between the governor and those whom he desired to 
consider revolutionists, served merely to define the spirit of 
the two parties and to emphasize even then the futility of 
efforts at reconciliation on any basis that could possibly be 
acceptable to all concerned. The futility of these is indi- 
cated, as are other elements of the discussion, in the suggest- 
ive words used at the conclusion of the second address of the 
Congress to Governor Gage: "And although we are willing 
to put the most favorable construction on the warning you 
have been pleased to give us of the ' rock on which we are,' 
we beg leave to inform you that our constituents do not 
expect, that, in the execution of that important trust which 
they have reposed in us, we should be wholly guided by 
your advice. We trust, sir, that we shall not fail in our duty 
to our country and loyalty to our king, or in a proper 
respect to your excellency." x 

On the day after the Congress gave him this ironical treat- 
ment, the governor began a letter to Lord Dartmouth in 
which he said that he would " not be surprised, as the pro- 

1 October 29, 1774. Journal of the Provincial Congress, 44, 45. 



63] GO VERNMENT IN MASSA CHUSE TTS $$ 

vincial congress seems to proceed higher and higher in their 
determinations, if persons should be authorized by them to 
grant commissions, and assume every power of a legal gov- 
ernment, for their edicts are implicitly obeyed throughout 
the province." 1 Along just this line did the congress pro- 
ceed. After its establishment two authorities aimed to ad- 
minister government in the same province. The relative 
influence of the two was shown plainly enough in the failure 
of Brigadier Ruggles to gain adherents to his tory "associa- 
tion," and in the result of Gage's effort to support with a 
military force his sympathizers in the town of Marshfield. 2 

With the approach of the time when, according to the 
charter, the election of representatives to the General Court 
was to be held throughout the province, Gage was given a 
definite opportunity to improve his position, an opportunity, 
however, which was soon lost. On April i, 1775, the Con- 
gress took up the consideration of the proper course of the 
towns, " in "case general Gage should send out his precepts 
for convening a new assembly, on the last Wednesday of 
May next, and what ought to be their conduct in case he 
should not send out his writs." 3 Thereupon, it was first 
resolved that "in case writs, in the form the law directs, 
should be issued, they ought to be obeyed." 4 It was further- 
more resolved that " in case writs should not be issued forth, 

1 Parliamentary History, XVIIL, 105. 

Cf James Warren, Plymouth, January 1, 1775, to Samuel Adams; referring to 
the tories, he continues : " Ruggles' Impudence is an Example for them, and the 
publication [sic] of Massachussitensis are read with more devotion & Esteem 
than Holy writt." Adams Papers, Bancroft Collection. 

2 Of. Journal of the Provincial Congress, 104. 

Cf. [Samuel Adams to A. Lee?], March 4, 1775: "The Town of Marshfield, 
have lately applied to G. Gage for leave to have a meeting, according to the Act 
of Parliament, .... They will be dealt with according to the Law of the Con- 
tinental Congress." Adams Papers, Bancroft Collection. 

Cf. Winsor, History of Duxbury, 126-129. 

3 Journals of the Provincial Congress, 116. * Ibid. 



64 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [64 

that a Congress be called, on the last Wednesday of May 
next ; and in case general Gage should not issue precepts 
for calling an assembly, as the law directs, the members of 
the towns of Charlestown, Cambridge, Brookline, Roxbury, 
and Dorchester, be desired to publish this resolve and 
appoint a place where they shall assemble." 1 Col. Warren, 
Mr. Adams, and Mr. Gill immediately reported these reso- 
lutions in form for publication, and they were then ratified, 
with the addition to the first resolution that, if the towns 
should obey the precepts to be issued by Gage, they should 
instruct their representatives to ''transact no business with' 
the council, appointed by mandamus ; and if they should be 
dissolved, to meet in a Provincial Congress, for the purpose 
of considering and transacting the affairs of this colony." 2 

The writs thus contemplated were issued, but the possi- 
bilities suggested were now removed by the commencement 
of hostilities, as the Congress stated it, " by the troops under 
the command of general Gage, . . . ." 3 The natural result 
was such action as that of April 28, when the Congress ap- 
pointed a committee to consider "the propriety of recom- 
mending to the several towns and districts in this colony, 
that they take no notice of the precepts lately issued by 
general Gage, for calling a general assembly." 4 This mat- 
ter was further considered on May 4, when a motion was 
made to appoint a committee to report a resolution recon- 
sidering the action of April 1 ; upon this, after a long de- 
bate, the motion was carried by a vote of 94 to 13. 5 For 
this duty, Col. Warren, Mr. Gerry, and three associates were 
appointed, 5 and their report was rendered and accepted on 
the following day. The resolution of April I, inasmuch as 
" many reasons now prevail to convince us that consequences 
of a dangerous nature would result from the operation of 

1 Journals of the Provincial Congress, 1 16. 2 Ibid., 116. 

z Ibid., 154. 4 Ibid., 163. * Ibid., 190. 



55] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS £5 

that resolution," 1 is to be considered null and void. Further- 
more, owing to the " clandestine and perfidious " destruction 
of the stores at Concord, to the fact that some inhabitants 
have been " illegally, wantonly and inhumanly slaughtered 
by the troops," and to the course of Gage as "an instrument 
in the hands of an arbitrary ministry to enslave this people," 
they resolve that " the said general Gage hath, by these 
means, and many others, utterly disqualified himself to 
serve this colony as a governor, and in every other capacity, 
and that no obedience ought, in future, to be paid by the 
several towns and districts in this colony, to his writs for 
calling an assembly, or to his proclamations, or to any other 
of his acts or doings ; but that, on the other hand, he ought 
to be considered and guarded against, as an unnatural and 
inveterate enemy to this country." 2 The attitude of the 
Provincial Congress and the position of the governor were 
thus clearly defined, and their future relations with each 
other made plain. During this period of the second Pro- 
vincial Congress, Gage was brought to the attention of its 
members by disconnected and less important acts, prominent 
among which was the agreement reached relative to the 
withdrawal of the residents of Boston. His course in this 
matter drew from the Congress a remonstrance containing 
such innuendoes as in the following: that they "would not 
affront your excellency by the most distant insinuation, that 
you intended to deceive and disarm the people, by a cruel 
act of perfidy." 3 However, the uncomplimentary sugges- 
tions were not unnatural, for a state of imminent, if not actual, 
belligerency existed. 

1 Journals of the Provincial Congress, 192. 

2 Ibid., 192, 193. It is characteristic that the next act of the Congress was the 
appointment of a committee to report a resolution recommending that the towns 
and districts choose delegates for a new Provincial Congress, to meet on the last 
Wednesday of the current month. Ibid., 193. 

3 May 10, 1775. Ibid., 213. 



66 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [66 

Such a relation was made plain enough scarcely a month 
later, when Gage in a vigorous proclamation x declared that a 
state of " avowed rebellion" had been reached by the "in- 
furiated multitudes," led by " certain well-known incendiaries 
and traitors, in a fatal progression of crimes against the 
constitutional authority of the state, ..." Recent acts in 
Massachusetts and elsewhere offered " marks of premedita- 
tion and conspiracy that would justify the fulness of chastise- 
ment;" and such especially was the act of April 19, when 
" many thousands . . . from behind walls and lurking holes, 
attacked a detachment of the king's troops, who, not expect- 
ing so consummate an act of phrenzy, unprepared for ven- 
geance, and willing to decline it, made use of their arms only 
in their own defense." Amid such an " exigency of compli- 
cated calamities," the governor made his last effort to pre- 
vent the shedding of blood, and offered full pardon to all who 
would "lay down their arms, and return to the duties of 
peaceable subjects," excepting only John Hancock and 
Samuel Adams, " whose offences are of too flagitious a 
nature to admit of any other consideration than that of con- 
dign punishment." An inclusive definition of traitorous 
conduct was given, and martial law was proclaimed. 

This proclamation had immediate effect. On June 15 the 
Committee of Safety, basing its action on this "very extraor- 
dinary proclamation, in which the inhabitants of Massachu- 
setts Bay are in the most explicit manner declared rebels," 
and on the accounts "brought to this committee of the 
movements of Mr. Gage's army, and that he intends soon to 
make another attempt to penetrate into the country," voted 
that there should be an immediate increase of the provincial 

1 An original print of this proclamation of June 12, 1775, published June 14, is 
among the Adams Papers, Bancroft Collection. 

The text is in Journal of the Provincial Congress, 330, 331. 
Cf. John Adams, Familiar Letters, 64. 



67] GO VERNMEN T IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS g 7 

army. 1 The Congress had already, on June 13, appointed a 
committee to consider the proclamation, 2 and this was in- 
creased three days later, 3 when also the resolution of the 
Committee of Safety was referred to Major Hawley, Col. 
Warren, Col. Prescott, and four associates. 4 On the same 
day the committee on the proclamation reported, and their 
report was ordered to be printed for publication throughout 
the colony. This was largely an account of the events of 
April nineteenth and a justification of the steps taken then 
and immediately thereafter, when they aimed to protect their 
" inheritance, purchased at no less a price than the blood of 
many thousands of our brave ancestors," from the attack of 
those troops who "breathed nothing but blood and slaugh- 
ter " The occasion was taken to encourage the colo- 
nists and to prevent effective efforts by those who would 
help the invaders. The usual opportunity for a change of 
allegiance was offered and the customary steps proposed 
against those who did not accept pardon and come over to 
the colonial side. From the pardon thus offered General Gage 
and Admiral Graves were excepted, as well as three coun- 
cillors still holding mandamus commissions — Sewall, Paxton, 
and Hallowell — and those native Americans, not in the army 
or navy, who aided the regular troops on the nineteenth, 
"whose offences," they follow Gage in saying, "are of too 
flagitious a nature to admit of any other consideration than 
that of condign punishment : . . . ." 5 

The position of Gage was made plain, even if less endurable, 
by the events of the day following the issue of this proclama- 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 568. 

2 Consisting of the president, Col. Warren, Col. Palmer, Mr. Sever, and Dr. 
Taylor. Ibid., 330. 

3 By the addition of Col. Otis and Mr. Johnson. Ibid., 341. 

4 Messrs. Gerrish, Farley, Aiken, Hall. Ibid., 340. 

5 The text is in Ibid., 344-347, 



68 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [6g 

tion ; the increased activity in military affairs and the intro- 
duction of continental control gave sufficient seriousness to 
the situation to impress upon Gage the fact that his functions 
had become exclusively military, and that from a governor 
of a people he had become in their eyes an outcast and a 
traitor. The Committee of Safety, on July 6, resolved " that 
it be recommended to the honorable Provincial Congress, 
now sitting at Watertown, to recommend to the grand 
American Congress, that every crown officer, within the 
united colonies, be immediately seized, and held in safe cus- 
tody until our friends who have been seized by General Gage 
are set at liberty, and fully recompensed for their loss and 
imprisonment." 1 On the next day the Provincial Congress 
referred the matter to a committee of five, 2 in whose hands 
the proposal seems to have " subsided ;" it had, however, 
shown plainly enough the development of the colonial feel- 
ing toward him who was still nominally the executive, but 
who in reality was such no longer. The representatives of 
the people, met as a General Court on the basis of the "re- 
sumed" charter of 1691, declared that he had deserted the 
post which they still considered technically that of his duty ; 
no longer could he claim consideration as the foundations 
were being laid for popular government; politically a nullity 
already, he soon relieved Massachusetts even of his presence. 

§ 3. Local Action hi the Summer of IJJA 

The opportunity offered to the patriot leaders by the con- 
sideration of questions necessarily arising from the course 
adopted by parliament was fully appreciated. Their policy 
was made plain and its pursuance easy by the decisive ac- 
tion of numerous town-meetings and county conventions. 
In August Dr. Young at Boston referred to the recent 
county meeting as having " originated many town meetings 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 589, 590. 2 Ibid., 463. 



69 ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS fig 

which will all be called without asking his excellency's 
leave." 1 To Samuel Adams in the same letter he wrote : 
"The whole current of Mr. Gage's administration seems to 
have its course up hill." 2 Although in the following week 
Governor Gage commanded his troops to disperse a Salem 
town-meeting and announced that he " came to execute the 
laws, not to dispute them," 3 yet in the first week in Septem- 

1 These derive additional significance from the fact that many were held during 
a part of the year that for much of the population was the busiest season, e. g., 
cf. Revolutionary Corresp., III., 214, Bancroft Collection. 

2 Dated Aug. 19, 1774. Adams Papers, Bancroft Collection. 

Cf. James Warren, Boston, August 15, 1774, to Samuel Adams: "Mr. Gage 
sent, the day before yesterday, for the selectmen, and informed them, that he had 
received an act of parliament prohibiting their calling town-meetings without a 
license from him. They told him, that they should obey the laws of the land; 
. . . ." Frothingham, Life of Warren, 339. 

Cf Boston Selectmen's Minutes, XXIII., 224, 225. 

3 New York Journal, no. 1653, September 8, 1774. 

Timothy Pickering, Salem, August 25, 1774, for Salem committee, to Boston 
committee of correspondence : stating that they had received a letter similar to that 
sent to all towns in the county by Marblehead committee proposing a county meet- 
ing; that they had called a town meeting to choose 5 or more delegates to meet in 
county conference at Ipswich, September 6. He quotes notification in full; 
these were printed and posted on Saturday, August 20, calling meeting for the 
following Wednesday. " On Wednesday morning at eight o'clock the Governour 
sent us a request to meet him at 9 o'clock at Col. Browne's, for ' he had some- 
thing of importance to communicate to us.' We waited on him accordingly. 
He asked if we avowed those notifications. It was answered by one of the 
com'tee that it was well known that the com'tee of correspondence ordered 
the notifications for the meeting." A demand to disperse the people was, 
he writes, answered by a claim of lack of authority. " He told us he should not 
enter into a discourse about the matter, he came here to execute the laws, not dis- 
pute about them, & we determined to execute them. For the law he referred us 
to the Attorney General & Col. Browne who were present. He concluded by 
telling us if the people did not disperse, the Sheriff would go first; & if he was dis- 
regarded and needed support, that he would support him. This he uttered with 
much vehemence." Account is given by Pickering of the call of the troops, of the 
completion of the meeting, and the subsequent arrest of the committee, two of 
whom recognized in ^"ioo each without sureties, and the rest of whom refused to 
give recognizances, and " the Justice sentenced them to stand committed till they 
should recognize; but nevertheless he let them go in peace, tho' no doubt they 
will again be arrested." Revolutionary Corresp., Bancroft Collection, I., 809, 810. 



JO FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [70 

ber he wrote to his superior that he feared his province 
would "shortly be without either law or legislative power." 1 
Not long thereafter he further wrote : " They talk of fixing a 
plan of government of their own." 2 He saw that a move- 
ment of local bodies was in full progress which was to sub- 
stitute a government by the people for the government of 
Gage and the king. The writs for the election of members 
of a new house of representatives occasioned not only the 
ordinary proceedings but, as well, a distinct repudiation of 
the governmental changes provided for in the act of parlia- 
ment. 3 From the consideration of such matters as were now 
involved proceeded a series of suggestive assertions, 4 ranging 
all the way from the action of the town of Wilbraham, the in- 
struction issued by which " was taken out of a newspaper," 5 to 

1 Gov. Gage to Lord Dartmouth, September 2, 1774. Sparks Papers, XLIIL, 
I., 192, Harvard College Library. 

2 Gov. Gage to Lord Dartmouth, September 20, 1774. Sparks Papers, XLIIL, 
I., 195, Harvard College Library. 4 American Archives, I., 795. 

3 Cf. James Warren, Boston, August 15, 1774, to Samuel Adams: "... it is 
not simply the appointment of the council by the king that we complain of; it is 
the breach thereby made in our charter : and, if we suffer this, none of our charter- 
rights are worth naming; the charters of all the colonies are no more than 
blank paper." Frothingham, Life of Warren, 340. 

Public sentiment was further defined in the letter written by James Warren, for 
the committee on donations, to the committee of Norwich August 27, 1774: 
"Mr. Gage may issue his precepts, and his council may sanctify them; his juries 
may give verdicts, and an unconstitutional and venal bench may pass judgments : 
but what will this avail, unless the people will acquiesce in them? If the people 
think them unconstitutional, of what importance are their determinations? Salus 
poptili suprema lex esto is a precious old maxim. The ministry have forgotten it; 
but the people are determined to remember it." Ibid., 350, 351; 4 Collections 
of Mass. Historical Society, IV., 46. 

4 Cf Thos. Young, August 19, 1774: " Letters and resolves come in to us from 
all quarters, and still on the rising tenor. Thirteen were received last Tuesday 
evening, and many are come to hand since." Frothingham, Life of Warren, 342, 
343- 

5 Action dated "Oct. 3, 1773," apparently taken October 4, 1774. Lincoln 
Papers, Library of American Antiquarian Society. 



j j ] GO VERNMENT IN MASS A CIIUSE TTS j l 

the declaration of the Suffolk county convention that no obedi- 
ence was due to the late acts of parliament. The press, as 
usual in this transitional period, shared in the work of the 
people. The condition of affairs was thus described in an 
address to Lord North printed in the Salem Gazette : " Such 
revolutions happen not upon every little mismanagement in 
public affairs. Great mistakes in the ruling party, and many 
wrong laws, and slips of human frailty, will be borne by the 
people ; but if a long train of abuses and artifices, all tend- 
ing the same way, make the design visible to the people, 
and they see whither they are going, it is not to be wondered 
that they should rouse themselves, for specious names and 
forms are worse than the state of nature or pure anarchy." 1 
The specious interpretations of right put forward by parlia- 
ment should be ignored; the charter of 1691 should be ad- 
hered to with great strictnesss. 2 And so at Concord 150 
committeemen of Middlesex county resolved, " that we will 
obey all such Civil Officers, now in Commission, whose 
Commissions were issued before the first day of July, 1774, 
and support them in the execution of their offices according 
to the manner usual before the late attempt to alter the Con- 
stitution of this Province ; nay, even although the Governor 
should attempt to revoke their commissions." 3 So too the 
town of Marblehead, 4 in its instructions to its representatives, 
claimed that all officers not chosen according to the charter 
were without legal authority ; and the Essex county conven- 

1 Salem Gazette and Newbury and Marblehead Advertiser, Vol. I., no. 8, 
August 19, 1774. 

' 2 Cf. Oration by Joseph Warren at Boston, March 6, 1775 : "The mutilation of 
our charter, has made every other colony jealous for its own ; for this, if once sub- 
mitted to by us, would set on float the property and government of every British 
settlement upon the continent. If charters are not deemed sacred, how miserably 
precarious is everything founded upon them." Niles, Principles and Acts, 22. 

3 Essex Gazette, no. 320, September 6-13, 1774. 

* Essex Gazette, no. 307, June 7-14, 1774. 



72 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH Vy 2 

tion 1 likewise defied parliament by asserting that town-meet- 
ings should still be called according to ancient usage and the 
province laws. 2 This point in the revolutionary program was 
brought out also by the Cumberland county conventions at 
Falmouth when it recommended that the justices and other 
civil officers should continue to act according to the charter, 
and that no one should accept a commission based on the act 
of parliament relative to the government of Massachusetts. 

The convention of Essex county towns, in connection with 
the action already mentioned, resolved that a Provincial 
Congress was absolutely necessary and that the representa- 
tives of the various towns in the assembly should be in- 
structed to resolve themselves into such a congress. In the 
same week the Boston Gazette had stated : " Town meet- 
ings, and county meetings, are now held and calling in all 
parts of the province ; a provincial congress is like to be soon 
appointed." 4 These meetings having defined the attitude of 
the province toward the acts of parliament and the charter, 
their attention was further directed to the practical measures 
before them. Many important town-meetings were held and 
many equally important county conferences. A meeting of 
these committees from four counties was held in Faneuil 
Hall, Boston, on August 26, and planned resistance to the 
two acts and the calling of a Provincial Congress. 5 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 615-618. 

2 Cf. Action of Hampshire county convention, September 22, 23, Journal of 
the Provincial Congress, 621 ; cf. Action of Plymouth county convention, Ibid., 
624. 

3 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 657-660. 

^Boston Gazette, no. 1012, supplement, September 5, 1774. 

5 Cf. Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, 356. 

" Every town, with the utmost alacrity, chose one or more of the most respect- 
able gentlemen, to meet in provincial congress, . . . ." Warren, History of the 
American Revolution, I., 161. 

The Boston committee represented Suffolk county; Worcester, Middlesex, and 



73] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 73 

The establishment of a provisional government was by- 
some happily planned as a necessary consequence of a firm 
adherence to the provincial charter. Thus the town of Dan- 
vers, while in its instructions to its representative enjoining 
the recognition only of the council elected in May, con- 
tinued : "and as we have reason to believe that a conscien- 
tious discharge of your duty, will produce your dissolution 
as an house of Representatives, we do hereby impower and 
instruct you to join with the Members" 1 in forming a Pro- 
vincial Congress. Similarly the town of Brookline intro- 
duced its direction to join in a Provincial Congress with the 
injunction to adhere to the charter, a course which they ex- 
pected would soon procure the dissolution of the House. 2 
While the maintenance of the charter was uniformly insisted 
upon, little emphasis was laid on the necessity of observing 

Essex counties were also represented. It was voted that by the late act all judges 
of the superior and inferior courts and of the common pleas, the attorney general, 
marshals, justices of the peace, and others, were " rendered unconstitutional offi- 
cers." On the next day, August 27, a committee report was accepted advocating 
opposition to courts held according to the late act, and expressing the opinion : 
" That a Provincial Congress is necessary for concerting and executing an effectual 
plan for counteracting the system of Despotism mentioned, as well as for substi- 
tuting referree Committees during the unconstitutionality of the Courts of Justice 
in the province; and that therefore each County will act wisely by choosing mem- 
bers as soon as may be for said Congress; and by resolutely executing its measures 
when recommended." Revohitioyiary Corresp., III., 61—63, Bancroft Collection. 
1 September 27, 1774. Lincoln Papers, Library of American Antiquarian 
Society. 

-September 27, 1774. Lincoln Papers. Cf. Roxbury, September 28, 1774. 

A meeting of delegates from towns in Suffolk and Middlesex counties, held Sep- 
tember 26, 1774, at Holliston, voted to choose representatives, to name the same 
men for a provincial congress, and to leave the time of the congress to the assem- 
bly, " because it would be needless if not improper to have two provincial Assem- 
blies Setting at one Time — for they might superceed or counteract one another 
and so get into confusion." 

" Because they will know when they have done as a House (which it is thot 
will be very soon) and will be together to go immediately upon business as a 
Congress without loss of time, or expence of long Journies." Revolutiotiary 
Corresp., III., 671-673, Bancroft Collection. 



74 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [74 

strict legality during the process of transition. Some would 
recognize the extremity of the situation and would act ac- 
cordingly. Thus the town of Beverly instructed its repre- 
sentative to the October assembly "that when the said great 
and General Court is convened you use your endeavors that 
the members thereof form themselves into a Provincial Con- 
gress." x The town of Wrentham voted that it was "the 
Opinion of this town that a Provincial Congress is necessary 
and that the seventh resolve passed by the Convention in 
and for the County of Essex respecting said Provincial Con- 
gress is a Method which this town would choose to adopt in 
Case the Province in General shall adopt the same. . . . " 2 

Complete and definite directions were given by the towns 
to their representatives, and an adherence to those instruc- 
tions occasioned the first steps in the transition. Prompt 
and plain action by the towns was the most effective element 
in the revolutionary beginnings in Massachusetts, and the 
most significant factor in the transition was the continuance 
of the vitality and authority of local political organisms. 
The recent acts of parliament had been directed not only to 
the alteration of the council and the abolition of the elective 
jury, but as well to the strict limitation of the freedom and 
independence of town action. 3 Thus for all town-meetings 
except the annual meetings the governor's consent was a 
prerequisite. By repeated adjournments a town meeting 
could be given an indefinite, even if constructive, continu- 
ance ; 4 by a technicality the governor's consent was ren- 

1 Action of .September 26, 1774. Lincoln Papers. 

2 Action of September 15, 1774. Lincoln Papers. Cf. Gloucester's action of 
September 20, 1774. Ibid. Cf. Boston's action of September 21, 1774. Boston 
Gazette, no. 1015, September 26, 1774. Cf. Frothingham, Life of Warren, 379. 

3 14 Geo. III., ch. 46, § 7. 

4 Upon this point the Boston Town Records afford suggestive material, showing 
the long and contemporaneous extension by repeated adjournments both of the 
" May meeting" and of the " Port Bill meeting." 



j§\ GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 75 

dered unnecessary, and soon the protection even of a tech- 
nicality was disregarded. 1 The power of the executive was 
openly condemned, and the governor clearly recognized the 
situation. His own helplessness revealed more definitely by 
contrast the power of the towns. By them had first been 
asserted, and maintained, a claim for the continued exercise 
of customary rights, and particularly for the continuance of 
town-meetings as under the old system. Successful in their 
first effort, the towns thus secured for themselves a practi- 
cally unbroken existence, and greatly promoted the organiza- 
tion of the revolutionary movement. Necessarily by such 
an addition there was brought in an element of authority, 
and the presence of such greatly increased the vigor and 
success of the colonial efforts. 2 By the towns the program 
of action was defined ; under their express direction the 
various steps were taken. The mandamus council by threat 
and force was made a nullity ; the constructive abdication of 
the governor was followed by the end of the royal legisla- 
ture; the king's governor was virtually made a prisoner in 
Boston, and the king's treasurer was given neither recogni- 
tion nor payments ; by popular expressions, justifiable and 
other, an effective and final check was put on judicial action. 
The lead of the towns was followed to the end, and there 
was quickly attained a complete dissolution of royal govern- 
ment. In the general collapse there remained unaffected 

a The plainest indication on the part of the colonists of some uncertainty as to 
the propriety of their action appeared in the letter of John Gerry, Marblehead, 
July 23, 1774, to Boston committee : " but altho We shall pay no Regard to ye Act 
respecting Town Meetings lately passed by parliament in general, yet we think 
it most prudent to have this Business finished before ye first of August . . . ." 
Revolutionary Corresp., III., 495, Bancroft Collection. 

5 Milton held 19 town meetings in 1778. Teele, History of Milton, 420. The 
town-meeting of Braintree was in session 13 days in 1774, 23 days in 1777, 17 
days in 1780. Braintree Town Records, passim. The Boston town meeting 
was in session at least 30 days in the year 1 774, more than 30 days in 1775, and 
more than 40 days in 1779. Boston Toxvn Records, passim. 



76 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [75 

the factor which had immediately occasioned such collapse 
and which was to remove the effects thereof; the town sys- 
tem found its justification in its service to the revolutionists 
when it rendered possible a quick and fairly conservative 
transition, free from the violent methods which usually ac- 
company revolutions. 1 

§ 4. End of the Provincial Legislature 

The concluding period of the history of the royal legisla- 
ture in Massachusetts may fitly be dated from the assembling 
of the General Court after the May elections of 1774. The 
last session of the General Court under Hutchinson had 
ended only after the governor's secretary had awaited its will 
outside the closed door; and unfortunately the new body 
was to exhibit no better spirit to Hutchinson's successor. 
The months between the two sessions had been a preparation 
for the crisis ; the course of parliament radically changed 
the situation and prospects. Now many such complaints 
could find utterance as were expressed by Sam Adams in a 
letter to James Warren, when he referred to the receipt of a 
" copy of an Act of the British Parliament, wherein it appears 
that we have been tried and condemned, and are to be pun- 
ished, . . . ." 2 Matters were at a tension ; the governor 
rejected more than a dozen councillors ; even the com- 
mencement at Harvard College was omitted; 3 all was sus- 

1 The importance of the town system in this period I have indicated in a tenta- 
tive manner in an article on "The Political Activity of Massachusetts Towns dur- 
ing the Revolution," to be published in the Report of the American Historical 
Association for i8g^. 

2 May 14, 1774, to James Warren, 4 Collections of Alas s. Historical Society y 
IV., 390. I find a draft of this over the autograph initials of Samuel Adams, read- 
ing : " wherein it appears that the Inhabitants of this Town have been tryed and 
condemned and are to be punished . . . ." Revolutionary Corresp., II., 17 r 
Bancroft Collection. Another copy, with some variation, signed by Samuel 
Adams, is in Ibid., III., 55. Cf. Frothingham, Life of IVarren, 303. 

3 Boston Gazette, June 6, 1774. 



yyl GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS yy 

pense. The assembly was allowed to sit only a few days in 
Boston, when it was " unexpectedly adjourned" 1 by the gov- 
ernor to meet at Salem, June 7. 2 Now, wrote Scollay, "we 
have all, from the cobbler up to the senator, become politic- 
ians." 3 Work for the politicians was abundant; the crisis came 
on the day when the Bostonians repudiated the faction which 
would pay for the tea that had been thrown into the harbor, 
and when at Salem the governor's secretary, who brought 
the writ of dissolution, was by the house deliberately kept 
waiting outside the locked door until its work was done and 
the call sent forth for a general congress. The short session, 
which thus ended summarily 4 on June 17, had sufficed for 
the passage of a few acts of ordinary legislation, 5 but was 

1 Samuel Adams to Silas Deane, Boston, May 31, 1774: "Our Assembly was 
unexpectedly adjourned on Saturday last till the seventh of June, then to meet at 
Salem. By this means I am prevented mentioning a Congress to the members. 
I wish your Assembly could find it convenient to sit a fortnight longer, that we 
might if possible act in Concert. This however is a sudden Thought." Adams 
Papers, Bancroft Collection. 

2 The resolutions of the house of June 8 against the pretended necessity of 
moving the Ceneral Court to Salem, and the address of the house to the governor 
of June 9 on the same subject, are in Boston Gazette, no. icoo, June 13, 1774. 

3 May 31, 1774, 4 American Archives, I., 369. 

4 Cf. John Adams, Falmouth, July 5, 1774, to Abigail Adams: "James Sullivan 
at dinner told us a story or two. One member of the General Court, he said, as 
they came down stairs after their dissolution at Salem said to him, ' Though we 
are killed, we died scrabbling, did not we?' 

" This is not very witty, I think. 

"Another story was of a piece of wit of brother Porter, of Salem. He came 
upon the floor and asked a member, ' What state are you in now?' The member 
answered, ' In a state of nature.' ' Aye,' says Porter, ' and you will be damned 
before you will get into a state of grace.' " Familiar Letters of John Adams, 12. 

5 The Governor on June 1 7 signed eight acts. A list of the titles is in the 
Massachusetts Spy, no. 177, June 23, 1774. The acts are published in Acts and 
Resolves . . . of the Province of Massachusetts, V., 387-412. Three of these acts 
were printed on pp. 517-521 of "Temporary Acts and Laws of . . . Massachu- 
setts Bay . . . Boston; . . . Green and Russell . . . 1763." Of this volume pp. 
1-179 are for the years 1736-1763; pp. 180-528 carry it into 1774, the latter part, 
although printed subsequently, being paged consecutively. A copy is in the 
Library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 



78 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH |>g. 

chiefly important from the fact that its utterances made 
clearer than ever before the opposition between the legisla- 
tive and the executive branches of the government. The 
address of the council to the governor even attributed to the 
two immediate predecessors of Gage the tendency to dis- 
union and the "present distressed state" of Massachusetts. 
The ground taken by the council was maintained in a 
manner far too outspoken for the governor. He interrupted 
the reading of the address, and replied that he could not re- 
ceive it, as it was " an Insult upon his Majesty and the Lords 
of his Privy-Council, and an Affront to myself." 1 That the 
lower house of the legislature was equally firm in opposition 
is shown by the small size of the minority on June 17 ; 2 and 
an indication of the popular spirit appeared in the unsought 
prominence attained by those few who opposed the first step 
toward the organization of a national governing body and a 
national resistance. The popular elements of the govern- 
ment were now a unit, and even if their leaders were " sen- 
sible, that . . . their conduct must be styled rebellion"* 
they realized the necessities of the* case and acted accord- 
ingly. " Their transactions might have been legally styled 

x The address and the reply are printed in Boston Gazette, no. 1001, June 20, 

1774- 

The records of the council, June 7-June 17, are in Mass. Archives, Court 
Records; 30: 272-302. The address was adopted June 9, 13 members being 
present; the governor's reply was received June 14. Their last act, on June 17, 
after concurring with the lower house in appropriating .£500 for the expenses of 
the Continental Congress delegation, was to send down a bill changing a man's 
name. 

2 The house had 129 members at Salem; the statement is made in Boston 
Gazette, no. 1 00 1, June 20, 1774, and in New York Journal, no. 1643. A list 
members elected is in Boston Gazette, no. 998, May 30, 1 774. The minority on 
the resolves of June 17 is given as twelve, in New York Journal, no. 1643, where 
eleven are named. Boston Gazette, no. icoi, June 20, 1774, printed an identical 
list of eleven, and indicated uncertainty as to the position of one member. 

3 Warren, History of the American Revolution, I., 138. 



79] G O VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS yg 

treasonable, but loyalty had lost its influence, and power its 
terrors." 1 Its own efforts brought the sudden dissolution of 
the legislature; the session furthered the contest; 2 and still 
more preparation for the crisis was now possible in the few 
weeks preceding the nomination of the mandamus council 
and the issue of writs for the election of a new representative 
body to sit with this new upper house. Those intervening 
weeks were marked with significant and effective activity; 
the signs of a crisis, whether of a constitutional or a political 
nature, were many and were such as to make it plain that an 
end must soon be reached. With much meaning, in those 
weeks, did John Adams write to James Warren : " Politics 
are an ordeal path among red-hot ploughshares." 3 

The involved question of the legality of Gage's with- 
drawal of the writs of election was to be ended, if not de- 
cided, early in October, 1774. The nature of the coming 
conclusion had been already indicated in the action of the 
towns. They now had definite aims and a definite plan of 
action ; to serve their purpose and lend respectability to 
their claims they advanced arguments of a constitutional 
character, and based their claims upon a painfully strict in- 
terpretation of the language of the charter. In reality, how- 
ever, constitutional argument was fast giving place to po- 
litical conflict; the colonists now had reached the point from 
which there must be movement either forward or backward ; 
public feeling left no question as to the direction which the 
movement would take ; and there was as little doubt that the 
advance would necessarily involve a complete disregard of 

1 Warren, History of tho American Revolution, L, 136. 
Even from New York Alex. McDougall, June 26, 1774, wrote to Samuel 
Adams with reference to the votes of June 17: "The manner of their doing the 
last is very judicious and agreeable to me, .... The time is now come . . . 
when it would be proper to push our Committee, which will be done to-morrow 
evening." Adams Papers, Bancroft Collection. 

3 June 25, 1774, Works of John Adams, I., 149; IX., 339. 



80 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH rg 

constitutional quibbles. Thus, early in September, Thomas 
Young expressed a common assurance when he wrote to 
Samuel Adams that "the Laws of God, of Nature and Na- 
tions oblige us to cast about for safety." 1 Turning from 
theory to the tangible problem at hand, he wrote in the same 
letter : " By all our advices from the westward the body of 
the people are for resuming the old charter, and organizing 
a government immediately." Elections of representatives 
were being held by the various towns, but the elections were 
accompanied by such votes and resolutions as to make it 
plain that the continued existence of royal legislative power 
was decidedly problematical. That such was the prevalent 
belief is made reasonably clear in a letter written in the first 
week of September by a prominent Connecticut man. Re- 
ferring to the many town-meetings in Massachusetts he 
writes: " However, you shall have my conjecture, to wit: 
the Act of Parliament they will say has dissolved the Com- 
pact; that they are in a State of Nature ; and have a right to 
make a new Constitution ; and on that principle, adopt the 
Province first Charter and make choice of Gov r , Dep. Gov r , 
Secretary, and other officers necessary, and endeavor to 
establish a Constitution, in defence of which they will spend 
all their treasure and blood." 2 Thus, whatever might be 
done, the elections to the new house were a form and little 
more ; it was a necessary step in order to put the governor 
ostensibly in the wrong; yet in that step the unanimity of 
the people was revealed. 

The attitude of the towns was defined by the elaborate in- 
structions given to the representatives who were now being 
elected in accordance with the writ of September I. The 

Thomas Young, Boston, Sept. 4, 1774, to Samuel Adams, Philadelphia. 
Adams Papers, Bancroft Collection. 

2 Col. Gurdon Saltonstall, Wethersfield, Conn., Sept. 5, 1774, to Silas Deane. 
Collections Connecticut Historical Society, II., 150, 151. 



8 1 ] GOVERNMENT IN MASSA C/IUSE TTS g l 

definition of their attitude and the indications given by many 
acts of the colonists seem to have convinced Gage of the 
folly of convening the legislative body. Its mere assembling 
would precipitate a decision of strength on the question of 
the council. His mandamus council having been reduced, 
by forced resignations, to less than a quorum, a complete 
General Court was an apparent impossibility. Even a com- 
promise on the composition of the next body to be termed a 
General Court was equally impossible, inasmuch as the gov- 
ernor could not, with any regard to his instructions or to the 
consistency of his position, recognize as a council the men 
chosen by the General Court in the preceding May. 1 Thus 
it could not be foreseen what developments would attend a 
meeting of the General Court ; an abundance of contin- 
gencies merely confirmed the executive in a step which 
transactions around him already seemed to render imperative. 
Accordingly, on September 28, Gage issued a proclamation 2 
annulling the earlier issue of writs of election. Acting upon 
a liberal interpretation of his powers, by this act he simply 
exercised his constitutional right incident to the clause in the 
charter which gave the governor " full power and Authority 
from time to time as he shall Judge necessary to adjourne 
Prorogue and dissolve all Great and Generall Courts or As- 
semblyes met and convened as aforesaid." 3 

1 Cf. Postscript of letter of conference at Holliston, Sept. 26, 1774, transmitted 
to Boston committee by Samuel Locke, of Sherburne : " You will allow me to 
Suggest a wish Gent n that Some Hint might be given publickly with respect to y c 
meeting of our old Constitutional Counsil on y c 5 th of next, to claim their Seats 
and offer their Service — at least to y e House if y e Gov r will not be advised by 
them." Revolutionary Corresp., III., 673, Bancroft Collection. 

2 The text is given in pp. 3, 4, Journal of the Provincial Congress. Reference 
is therein made to "the many tumults and disorders which have since [Sept. 1] 
taken place, the extraordinary resolves which have been passed in many of the 
counties, the instructions given by the town of Boston, and some other towns, to 
their representatives, and the present disordered and unhappy state of the pro- 
vince," as rendering the action expedient. 

3 Acts and Resolves of the Province of 'Mass :, I., 12. 



82 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [82 

Under these circumstances there were no men in the col- 
ony legally entitled to sit in a General Court. Opposite 
ground was held by the colonists. By them it was claimed 
that the issue of writs of election, at the order of the gov- 
ernor, could take place only after the governor had deter- 
mined that a condition existed which made such issue essen- 
tial or proper. When such a condition was declared to exist, 
and when, accordingly, the governor had taken such pre- 
liminary action, a series of processes was begun and the 
completion of the series was essential and even required. 
Thus, for no reason could the issue of writs of election fail 
to be immediately followed by all the processes of an election 
and by a session of the General Court. As indicated, the 
executive acted upon an opposite theory; and he further 
maintained his view by his course of action. His withdrawal 
of the writs of election was appropriately followed by his 
omission to recognize or meet with the men chosen by the 
towns to serve as their representatives. Nevertheless, the 
ninety 1 representatives who gathered at Salem, October 5, 
considered themselves a constitutional body, and as such 
awaited with " cautious courtesy " the appearance of the ex- 
ecutive, or of his representative, whose presence was essen- 
tial to the organization of a General Court. A provisional 
organization 2 was effected by the men thus gathered, and a 
committee was appointed to consider the governor's recent 
proclamation. The executive failing to appear, the men who 
thought themselves a royal assembly brought matters to an 
issue by the adoption, on October 7, of a brief series of par- 

1 1 find this number stated in Mass. Spy, no. 193, Oct. 13, 1774. 

The same statement is made in Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Mas- 
sachusetts, p. 4, where reference is made to Gordon, History of the American 
Revolution, I., 280, and where a general reference, without citations, is made to 
the Essex Gazette, Mass. Spy, Boston Evening Post, and Boston Gazette. 

2 John Hancock was chosen chairman, and Benjamin Lincoln, clerk. Jour- 
nals, p. 4. 



83] GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS 83 

tisan resolves. Excessive stress was laid in these upon the 
words of the charter which oblige the governor to " convene, 
'upon every last Wednesday in the month of May, every 
year forever, and at such other times as he shall think fit, 
and appoint a great and general court.' " As they further 
held that the governor's power to adjourn, prorogue and 
dissolve the General Court could not be exercised until after 
a General Court, once called, had " met and convened," z they 
asserted that Gage's action of September 28 was " against 
the express words, as well as true sense and meaning of the 
charter and unconstitutional;" and that it was "unjust, and 
disrespectful to the province. . . ." 2 They considered that 
" his representations of the province as being in a tumult- 
uous and disordered state, are reflections the inhabitants 
have by no means merited ; and, therefore, that they are 
highly injurious and unkind." 3 As the pretended cause of 
the proclamation of September 28 had existed for some time, 
the delay of such proclamation caused unnecessary expense 

1 In this connection should be noticed the procedure in 1755. The Assembly 
stood prorogued to September 24, but news from Crown Point caused the Lieu- 
tenant Governor and Council to think an Assembly essential; and it was called 
to meet September 5. In the short session four acts were passed, for levying 
troops for Crown Point, supplying the treasury with ^16,000, punishing deserters, 
and assessing a tax of ;£ 18,000. Doubts were expressed as to the legality of 
these acts, and accordingly the General Court in the session beginning September 
24 confirmed the acts of the earlier session. Acts and Resolves of the Province 
of Mass., III., 882. For this there was no precedent in Massachusetts, and 
reference was made to the session of Parliament of July 25, 1667. Cf. /did., 
III., 950. 

2 journal of the Provincial Congress, 5. 

3 Ibid., 6. 

Cf. Samuel Adams, Philadelphia, September, 1774: "If the only constitutional 
council, chosen last May, have honesty and courage enough to meet with the 
representatives chosen by the people by virtue of the last writ, and jointly pro- 
ceed to the public business, would it not bring the governor to such an explicit 
conduct as either to restore the general assembly, or give the two Houses a fair 
occasion to declare the chair vacant?" Frothingham, Life of Joseph Warren, 377. 



84 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [84 

and trouble to those elected, and should thus be considered 
as discourteous to the province. Some of the causes "as- 
signed ... for this unconstitutional and wanton prevention 
of the general court, have, in all good governments, been 
considered among the greatest reasons for convening a par- 
liament or assembly." 

These men now voted to " resolve themselves into a Pro- 
vincial Congress, to be joined by such other persons as have 
been or shall be chosen for that purpose, to take into consid- 
eration the dangerous and alarming situation of public affairs 
in this province, and to consult and determine on such meas- 
ures as they shall judge will tend to promote the true interest 
of his majesty, and the peace, welfare and prosperity of the 
province." 1 Thus ended the last attempt in Massachusetts to 
maintain the royal legislature ; then was taken an important 
step in the progress of revolution. 2 Then, indeed, were the 
people " compelled to turn their thoughts and attention to 
other methods of preventing the impending destruction." 3 

§ 5. Closing of the Royal Courts 

The enforced cessation of activity on the part of the royal 
legislature and the rapid neutralizing of the power of the 
royal executive comprised only a portion of the transitional 
events at this period. During the same months definite ex- 
pression was given not only to the popular hatred of the 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 6. 

2 Lieut. Governor Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts ends thus : " The 
people, by their own authority, formed a legislative body; and from that time all 
pacifick measures for restoring their former dependence upon the supreme au- 
thority of the British dominions, were to no purpose." Op. cit., III., 460. Of 
the first volume of this work Ezra Stiles wrote: "It is my opinion that this 
History contributed more than anything else to reviving the ancestorial spirit of 
Liberty in New England on this occasion." [1765.] Papers of Ezra Stiles, 41, 
Bancroft Collection. 

3 Netv York Journal, no. 1672, Jan. 19, 1775. 



85] GO VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS g 5 

methods of royalty, but also to the local opposition to the 
jurisdiction of the newly constituted royal courts, and to the 
feelings aroused in the earlier contest over the impeach- 
ment of Chief Justice Oliver. The bitter and widespread 
discontent now made more severe the tension between 
royalty and democracy, and sounded the key-note of 
the policy of vigor and even of violence that was soon to 
occasion the sudden collapse of a judicial system which for 
some months had been without foundation. Thus, even of 
the year 1773, it could be written: "There was not a justice 
of the peace, sheriff, constable, or peace officer in the 
province, who would venture to take cognizance of any 
breach of law, against the general bent of the people." 1 
Such a strong characterization, indeed, could Governor 
Hutchinson reiterate with the added emphasis of intervening 
history when he wrote concerning the early months of 1774: 
"The course of law was now wholly stopped . . . ." 2 In the 
early spring of that same year " even one of the Assembly- 
men, a Col. Gardner, who was afterwards killed at the Battle 
of Bunker's Hill, declared in the General Assembly, that he 
himself would drag the Chief Justice from the Bench, if he 
should sit upon it." 3 And not untruly, then, could the 
Berkshire loyalists in the following August join with their 
congratulations to Gage on his appointment the terse state- 
ment: "The fences of law are broken down;" 4 for the 
movement was then well under way which was to overthrow 
the courts of the king and prepare the ground for the estab- 

1 Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, III., 437. 

2 Ibid., III., 454. 

3 From a MS. entitled " The Origin and Progress of the American Rebellion 
to the" Year 1776. In a Letter to a Friend," reprinted in part in Diary and 
letters of Thomas Hutchinson, I., 141-147; the quotation here given is from 
P. 145- 

* Dated August 10, 1774; 4 Collections of Massachusetts Historical Society ; 
X., 7 iS- 



86 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [86 

lishment of a new judicial system, comprising old forms, to 
be sure, but resting upon the recognition of a shifting of sov- 
ereignty. 

The effort of parliament to effect a transfer from town- 
meetings to crown officials of certain powers relative to the 
choice of jurors was met by a distinct response from a united 
people. 1 For them the charter of 1691 and the statutes of 
Massachusetts were ample ; in theory the action of parlia- 
ment was beyond the colonial conception of propriety; in 
practice the people must retain their honored right of elect- 
ing jurymen. And as the popular program had been to ig- 
nore the constitutional existence of a new council appointed 
by the crown, so in this connection as well the king's parlia- 
ment was considered incompetent to act, and its action upon 
such contested ground was treated as of no effect. The ad- 
ministrative situation on August 20 was described by Ben- 
jamin Kent in his letter to Samuel Adams, as follows : " Our 
Constables have precepts deliver'd them to make return to 
the Sheriff of all persons liable to serve on juries, 2 according 
to the late Act of Parliament — but they are unanimously de- 
termined not to pay any regard to them." 3 Nevertheless, 
an effort at ordinary procedure was made, although now 
every step was marked by an irregularity that foreboded no 
good. At Boston, 4 ten days after Kent was writing to 

1 For an expression even in the preceding year, cf. Andover, instructions to 
representative, June 1, 1773 : " We already see the Subject depriv'd of his essen- 
tial Right to a Tryal by Juries : his House & Business expos'd to a Parcel of 
low-liv'd officers under the absolute Direction of the Crown, and our civil Mag- 
istrates dependant on the same for their support : We have seen a Native of this 
Province invested with a Power resembling that — that of a Spanish Inquisitor." 
Revolutionary Corresp., I., 125, Bancroft Collection. 

2 Cf. John Adams, Familiar Letters, 29, 30. 

3 Adams Papers, Bancroft Collection. 

4 The conference of delegates from four counties which was held in Boston, 
August 26 and 27, adopted a committee report of which a portion drawn up but 
not accepted was as follows: "That every officer belonging to y e Courts y* 



Syl GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS g^ 

Adams, " the Superior Court met, when the recorded Traitor 
had the impudence to take his seat as Chief Justice, but to 
his great mortification, met with that scorn & Contempt he 
so justly deserves. The Grand Jurors & Petit Jurors with 
a Resolution & firmness becoming free born Americans, 
nobly refused to take the Oaths j" 1 and on the next day the 
court proceeded to business " as is usually transacted, with- 
out juries." 2 In New England, however, by statute and by 
popular custom, the elective jury was a vital and cherished 
element of the judicial system. That it was actually such 
the people of Boston, fortunately in a temperate manner, 
soon made manifest. The same week that the regular busi- 
ness of the court at Boston was interrupted, a certain 
"Amicus" wrote to Samuel Adams: " The judges have in- 
formed the governor that the execution of their office is at 
an end." 3 

While thus in Boston the courts were made to yield to the 
"bent" of the popular will in a manner not friendly at least, 
even if not insurrectionary, throughout the rest of the corn- 
People in either County of this Province will conduct properly, by dispersing y e 
Judges when met for y e purpose of Judicature, in every Way that shall not be 
productive of Carnage & Bloodshed." There is also a variation of this form. 
Revolutionary Corresp., III., 69, Bancroft Collection. 

1 Letter of Nath'l Noyes, Boston, August 30, 1774; New England Historical 
and Genealogical Register, April, 1889, xliii, 146, 147. The reasons formed and 
offered by these jurymen are printed in Niles, Principles and Acts, 319, 320. 

Cf. Paul Revere to John Lamb, September 4, 1774. Frothingham, Life of 
Warren, 359. Goss, Life of Paul Revere, L, 150. Cf 4 American Archives, 
I., 748, 749. 

On the same day, September 4, Joseph Warren wrote to Samuel Adams : " If 
we should allow the county courts to sit one term upon the new establishment, 
what confusion, what dissensions, must take place !" Frothingham, Life of 
Warren, 357. 

2 Boston Gazette, no. 1012, supplement, September 5, 1774. 

3 Dated September 5, 1774; this letter also tells of the removal of the gun- 
powder from the wind-mill and of the meeting of 3000 men at Cambridge on the 
morning thereafter. Adams Papers, Bancroft Collection. 



88 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [88 

monwealth the same end was attained usually by methods 
more summary and by means far less justifiable. Thus in 
recounting the events of August, a, single newspaper ar- 
ticle z cited the enforced withdrawal of the attorney- 
general from Cambridge to Boston ; the extortion from 
Sheriff Phips, of Middlesex county, of a promise to serve no 
more processes ; the interruption or prevention of judicial 
proceedings at Springfield, 2 at Plymouth, 3 at Taunton,* and in 
Berkshire county; 5 and furthermore the episode at Worces- 

1 " Plain English to the Provincial Congress." Reprinted from the Boston Post 
in Rivington's Gazette : or the Connecticut, Hudson's River, A r ew Jersey, and 
Quebec Weekly Advertiser, no. 99, March 9, 1775. This appeared under date 
of Feb. 20, in the Mass. Gazette (Draper), no. 3726, February 22, 1775. 

' l On August 26, delegates of 25 towns and districts in Hampshire county, and 
of plantation " number five," met at Hadley and named a committee of five to 
present the statement then drawn up for the signatures of the judges at Spring- 
field on the last Tuesday in the month. A statement was presented and signed in 
a modified form; the people voted that the reply was unsatisfactory, that the court 
should not sit, and that the committee should inform the judges of these two 
votes " and request of them a speedy answer, Whether they were determined to 
sit contrary to the sense of this assembly, which passed in the affirmative. Ac- 
cordingly the said comittee waited on the said justices informing them of the votes 
above mentioned and soon reed, the following answer : That they would not sit 
contrary to the minds of the people. And further saith not." This complete 
account, dated August 31, 1774, signed by the five men of the committee men- 
tioned, was sent to the Boston committee. Revolutionary Corresp., III., 699- 
701, Bancroft Collection. Cf. Smith, History of Pitts fie Id, 197. 

3 " On Tuesday the fourth instant, there was a great confluence of people in 
this town, to prevent the sitting of the court, in imitation of the example of other 
counties, it being expedient and necessary at this critical conjuncture, to maintain 
a similarity of sentiment, and uniformity of action. The affairs, respecting the 
declaration of the justices, recantation of addressing, &c. were managed by the 
delegates of the county conventions." Plymouth letter in Mass. Spy, no. 195, 
October 27, 1774. 

* Cf. 4 American Archives, 1., 732. 5 Ibid., I., 724. 

"We hear from Great Barrington, in the government of Massachusetts Bay, 
that last week, ... a great number of people assembled, supposed to be 1500 — 
would by no means permit the court to proceed, and at last they were obliged to 
retire without doing any business." New York Journal, no. 165 1, August 25, 
1774. Cf. quotation from Mass. Gazette and Newsletter in Smith, History of 
Pittsfeld, 196. 



89] G O VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSETTS §9 

ter, 1 where a presumably respectable mob of 5,000 stopped 
the work of the judges of the court of common pleas and 
forced the judges, lawyers, and sheriff, with hats off, to walk 
between double files and disavow not less than thirty times the 
holding of courts under the new acts of parliament. To this 
record of the public acts of the time the same article added 
more than a score of instances of the use of force, or of 
equally effective threats, against royal officials either in 
mandamus council or in the judicial department. And thus 
the judiciary of Berkshire, of Worcester, of Hampshire, of 
Middlesex, 2 and of other counties, drifted toward the goal of 
dissolution which the courts of Suffolk had already reached. 
So, too, the provincial press aimed to bring about the "simi- 
larity of sentiment, and uniformity of action " suggested by 
the men of Plymouth. The movement, plainly, was not that 
of a single town or county, or of a group of such, but of a 
politically united population ; 3 it was at the same time a 
radical movement and one summarily effective in overturning 

1 Cf Boston Gazette, no. 1013, September 12, 1774. 

E.g., The Worcester County Convention on August 31 "Resolved, That it is 
the indispensable duty of the inhabitants of this county, by the best ways and 
means, to prevent the sitting of the respective courts under such regulations as 
are set forth in a late act of parliament, entitled, an act for regulating the civil 
government of the Massachusetts Bay." Journal of the Provincial Congress,. 
632. The Worcester County Convention on September 6, 1774, "Voted, as the 
opinion of this convention, that the court should not sit on any terms." Ibid., 635. 

2 As to the closing of the court at Concord, September 13, 1774, see Shattuck,. 
History of Concord, 88. 

3 Gov. Gage wrote to Lord Dartmouth, September 2, 1774: "Civil Government 
is near its end; the Courts of justice expiring one after another." — 4 American 
Archives, I., 767-769. Also in Parliamentary History, XVII L, 96. 

Cf Pittsfield committee, July 25, 1774, to Boston committee: "Our Court 
being the first in the province after the taking place of those Acts we ask your 
Advice and Opinion, & desire your speedy Sence in this matter of so great 
Moment, that we may act in concert with the whole province as much as possible.. 
We hope you'll not fail to transmit to us your Opinion touching this matter be- 
fore the sitting of sd. Court. We expect to get it adjourned unless we should 
hear from you." Revolutionary Corresp., III., 607, 608, Bancroft Collection. 



90 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [90 

the existing judicial system and in preparing the ground for 
the establishment of a new system on an entirely different 
basis. 1 And while of the period of judicial hiatus it could 
be said that then " were the bands of society relaxed, law set 
at defiance, and government unhinged throughout the prov- 
ince," 2 nevertheless the conservatism of the people and their 
"similarity of sentiment" assured to their "uniformity of 
action" a salutary character, and imparted to such action 
even a type of positive efficiency. 

Concerning the impending interim in judicial matters, 
John Adams, on September 26, wrote from Philadelphia: 
" It Seems to be the general opinion here that it is practic- 
able for Us, in the Massachusetts to live wholly without a 
Legislature and Courts of Justice as long as will be necessary 
to obtain Relief. If it is practicable, the general Opinion is, 
that We ought to bear it." 3 A fortnight later the Continental 
Congress resolved " That the Congress recommend to the 
inhabitants of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, to sub- 
mit to a suspension of the administration of justice, where it 
cannot be procured in a legal and peaceable manner under 
the rules of their present charter, and the laws of the colony 
founded thereon." 4 And it is a striking feature of the 
transitional period, especially during the critical beginning, 
that the even temper of the people and their unselfish ambi- 
tion to mitigate the possible evils of impending anarchy 
could so completely and so effectively, for the time being, 
remove the necessity for established courts of law. 5 Public 

1 Cf. Boston Gazette, Sept. 18, 1775; Lincoln, History of Worcester, 75. 

2 Warren, History of the American Revolution, . . . Boston, 1805, I., 145. 

3 To Jos. Palmer of Germantown; New England Historical and Genealogical 
Register, (July, 1876) XXX., 306. Works of John Adams, I., 154, 155. But 
cf, Adams to Tudor, Sept. 29, 1774; Ibid., IX., 347; and cf Adams to Burgh, 
Dec. 28, 1774; Ibid., IX., 351. 

4 Resolve of October 10, 1774; 4 American Archives, I., 908, 909. 

5 The committee of Gloucester, August 17, 1774, to the Boston committee: 



9 1 ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS g j 

opinion, and the high ideals of the citizens, prevented con- 
fusion on the dissolution of the courts. The effects of such 
dissolution were patent for considerably more than a year, 
during which time, as Washburn states, " the defect of courts 
of justice was in some places supplied by the establishment 
of local tribunals for the trial of causes, but more by the 
spontaneous action of the people in restraining crime and 
enforcing justice." 1 Instances of such provisional courts ap- 
pear early. Thus, on September 5, 1774, the town of South 
Brimfield " voted to choose twelve men as a court of justice 
and honour, to judge and determine all controversies that 
may hereafter arise in S d District." In the same month 
Maiden chose a similar board of twelve, and on December 
6 the town of Attleborough elected four judges for a superior 
court and seven judges for an inferior court in the town. 2 A 
board such as that in Maiden and in South Brimfield was, 
on January 5, 1775, chosen by the town of Billerica, al- 
though in this last instance less power was given to the 
newly created court, and provision was made for a reference 
of matters to the town for final decision. 3 But all such were 

"A County Congress is just now propos'd." The avoidance of law suits "may 
be promoted by such a Congress which would be a further Proof of our Unanim- 
ity so much dreaded by our insolent Oppressors." Revolutionary Corresp., 
TIL, 336, Bancroft Collection. 

1 Washburn, Judicial History of Massachusetts, 165. 

2 Lincoln Papers. In the case of Maiden a quorum of seven was established. 
As to Attleborough, cf. Washburn, Judicial History of Massachusetts, 165; 
Daggett, History of Attleborough, 121, 122. 

As to the erection of a local judiciary in Pittsfield, cf Smith, History of Pitts- 
field, 381-384. 

3 Certain cases also were tried before the local committees. In Hampshire 
county, an appeal from the decision of one town committee to another local 
committee within the county was allowed; appeals were taken in 1776 to the 
Northampton committee from the decisions of the Amherst committee by Wm. 
Boltwood, Isaac Goodale, Ephraim Kellogg, and other residents of Amherst. 
Hawley Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. 

A further kind of procedure is shown by the letter of April 19, 1776, sent by 



92 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [92 

local efforts to supply what must be formed only by the 
commonwealth itself. And yet they were a clear recognition 
of the needs of the time, and of the fact that the courts of the 
king had in Massachusetts adjourned forever. Thereafter 
the basis of such organs of government was to be essentially 
different; the state itself had been altered, and the judicial 
system, in substance and theory if not in all points of super- 
ficial procedure, must, with the other organs of the state, 
recognize and coincide with the alteration. The transition 
is described bluntly but with truth by the following passage 
inserted in the records of the superior court: "N. B. — The 
Superior Court did not sit in the county of Middlesex in Oc- 
tober, 1774, by reason of the difficulty of the times, and 
there was no term of the said court in that county until Oc- 
tober, 1776. And the continued actions are carried forward 
by a special order of tne general court." 1 With this revived 
general court, 2 under the " resumed" charter, the restoration 
was begun, which was to be completed under the new 
constitution. 

the Amherst committee to Hatfield, Northampton, and Sunderland. To Nor- 
thampton it was written : " Gentelemen hereby is Presented the Request of the 
Committee of Amherst that you would oblige your Brethren with the assistance 
of three of your Committee of Correspondence in the Important Trial of the 
Revd Mr. David Parsons upon a Complaint of his being unfrindly to the intrests 
of the Continent." The trial was appointed for April 24, at Elisha Ingram's 
house, Amherst, and the Northampton committee appointed a delegation to 
attend. Hawley Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. 

1 Quincfs Reports, I., Mass., 340. The Superior Court was revived in Essex 
County, June 28, 1776, Worcester County, September 25, 1776, and Suffolk 
County, August 28, 1778. Washburn, Judicial History of Massachusetts, 166. 
The Superior Court of Essex County at Ipswich on the third Tuesday in June r 
1776, is given as the first court held under the new government. Quincy's Re- 
ports, 340. 

2 L. Lincoln, Worcester, Nov. 7, 1775, to Joseph Clark, Northampton: "Our 
Courts are about forming, . . . ." Haivley Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. 

E.g., John Adams, Familiar Letters, 160, 171, 227. Cf. Whitney, History oj 
Worcester county, 16; Lincoln, History of Worcester, 88; Works of John. 
Adams, II., 332. 






CHAPTER IV 

EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL BODIES 

In "The American Querist" the seventy-sixth question 
was: "Whether the colonies, in a great measure, have not, 
for ten years past, been under an iniquitous and tyrannical 
government, namely, the government of unprincipled mobs ; 
and whether experience has not yet convinced us, that this 
mode of governing a country is most detestable?" 1 This 
small pamphlet was written anonymously by the president 
of King's College, was published by the tory Rivington, and 
was burned by the " sons of liberty." It was distinctly, thus, 
a partisan statement, and yet by the exaggeration of the 
enormity he opposes, the author yields an unwilling confes- 
sion of the political effectiveness of this new "mobocratick" 2 
power. What by one party was considered an abuse of 
power, and as such thoroughly reprehensible, was by the 

1 [Cooper.] The American Querist, 24, 25. A further characterization, of 
similar tenor, appeared in a speech said to have been delivered in the New York 

assembly by " I c W s, Esq.," who referred to committees, associations, 

and congresses : " They have already driven this Colony to the brink of a preci- 
pice; some of our sister colonies (I speak it with deepest concern) have already 
taken the desperate plunge; and unless the clemency of Great Britain shall work 
a miracle in their favour, I know not how they will escape perdition." Riving- 
ton 's Gazette, no. 103, April 6, 1775, Cf Short Advice to the Counties of New 

York, 11. Cf."A Freeman," in the Salem Gazette, vol. I., no. 6, August 5, 
1774. Cf. " McFingal," canto III. Trumbull, Poetical Works, I., 95, 96. 

2 Referring to the continent of North America : " There mobocratick majesty 
has usurped a power unknown to European and Asiatick despots ! — A General 
Congress, Provincial Congresses, Committees of Safety, Committees of Commerce, 
and Sub-committees of select Men, all are law-makers and law-breakers; .... 
James Stewart, Total Refutation of Dr. Price, 3, 4. 

9Z~] 93 



94 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [94 

opposing party held to be a proper exercise of power, and in 
all respects justifiable. 1 Aside from the relative merits of 
the case, it was evident that the rise of new forms of political 
activity and the development of new organs of political ex- 
pression was a striking phenomenon during the transition 
from the province to the commonwealth, and immediately 
preceding that series of events. It was significant, as well, 
although chiefly so from the political point of view. In the 
history of constitutional development minor importance 
attaches to the various extra-constitutional forms or bodies 
which appear ; but from this statement the Provincial Congress- 
may be excepted. The work of that body, however, was 
largely facilitated and its practical authority strengthened by 
the effective manner in which the population was politically 
organized. The deliberate, sure, and effective action of the 
smaller political divisions, at a time presumably of utter de- 
moralization, attests the influence and the importance of 
those less prominent organizations which served to control 
the population and to give it political unity and efficiency. 
Their forms and their detail of procedure may, in this con- 
nection, be relatively unimportant, but the general effect and 
even the existence of such are not to be disregarded. By 
the maintenance of them a direct connection was secured 
between each Provincial Congress and every individual in the 
population which it aimed to direct. It was made possible 
that the resolutions of the provincial body should be brought 
to every inhabitant with all the force of law. Every person 

1 Many formal protests were made against the actions of the committees. Thus 
a protest from men of Worcester characterized them as "being creatures of 
modern invention," " having no legal foundation," and spoke of " their past dark 
and pernicious proceedings : . . . ." Boston News Letter, June 30, 1774; Mass* 
Gazette, July 4, 1 774; Worcester Town Records, 230-233. This protest, which 
was called a " Peice of Low Cunning," occasioned a special meeting of the town, 
on August 22 and 24, when the committees were strongly endorsed. Worcester 
Town Records, 236-239. Cf. Boston Town Records, XVIII., 178. 



95] G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA CH USE TTS 95 

was made to realize that there was in the province a body- 
exercising authority which, in his eyes at least, was tangible 
and effective. It was made such largely by the co-operation 
of county committees and town committees, whether of cor- 
respondence, inspection, safety, or regulation, and by the less 
active assistance of such bodies as county conferences and 
conventions. 

The attainment by the revolution of its "breath of life" 
has been attributed to the action of Samuel Adams in the 
Boston town-meeting of November 2, 1772. 1 If the motion 
which led to the creation of the Boston committee of corres- 
pondence could have had even approximately the effect on 
continental politics thus rhetorically indicated, much more 
decisive must have been its influence upon Massachusetts. 
To be sure, the step which occasioned the vigorous state- 
ment of the inherent rights of the colonists " as men and 
Christians and as subjects ; . . . " 2 must have induced a 
profound revival of the political consciousness of the peo- 
ple. Such an awakening was essential to success, and its 
occasion was significant. The step which caused such gen- 
eral appreciation of natural rights was, however, even more 
important, in that it was promptly followed by the choice in 
many towns of a committee of correspondence. The adop- 
tion of the Boston recommendation was so general that the 
range of influence of these committees may not improperly 
be stated as comprising the whole province. 3 In each case 
the more regular and more important correspondence was 

1 Revolutionary Ccrresp., Bancroft Collection, I., contains an original printed 
notification, dated Nov. 16, of the meeting of Nov. 20, and a manuscript draft, 
attested by Wm. Cooper, of the famous report adopted on the latter date. 

2 See Sabin, Bibliotheca Americana, no. 6568. Cf Wells, Life of Samuel 
Adams, I., 502-507. 

3 However, cf action of Wilbraham, April 20, 1773, the preamble referring to 
the inaction of other towns, " Since the most Antient Towns in the Same County 
have lain still and done nothing." Revolutionary Corresp., L, 987, Bancroft 
Collection. 



96 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [96 

that maintained by each town committee with the committee 
at Boston. All looked thither for advice and direction. 1 
Thence came the assistance, the encouragement, and the 
suggestions that prepared the people for intelligent opposi- 
tion ; and thence came to all, as well, a most forcible exposi- 
tion of their position, and insistence upon their rights and 
their duties. This " campaign of education" was one that 
made the population much more nearly harmonious in their 
political beliefs. The process that followed Samuel Adams' 
act of inspiration was such as to make the population a unit 
also for all purposes of political action ; 2 and in this latter re- 
sult lay the deeper significance. The people thus secured a 
central body whose word was given uniform respect and 

1 Rochester committee, October 26, 1773, to Boston committee of correspond- 
ence : " Our Eyes, Gentlemen, (under God) are unto you. Your local Sitnation, 
as well as some other Circumstances, gives you advantages above your Brethren 
in y e Country, both for obtaining & communicating Intelligence of y e various 
Movements of our Enemies, & of their plots & designs against us." Revolution- 
ary Corresp., Bancroft Collection, I., 777. 

Committee of Abington, August 17, 1774. to the Boston committee: "and a 
Provincial Congress appears to us to be Expedient to be Immediately appointed 
in order that the Sense of the Several Towns may be known whether they will 
comply with the New Act of Parliament relative to Jurymen for our Executive 
Courts. However, we referr all those Things to your Wisdom to dictate . . . ." 
Revolutionary Corresp., III., 113, 114, Bancroft Collection. 

2 Wm. Cooper, for Boston Committee of Correspondence, to Newburyport 
Committee of Correspondence, January 1773, rough draft: "The notice you have 
been pleased to take of our endeavors to serve our country; the strong, senten- 
tious manner in which you have expressed your resolution to co-operate with us, 
for the redress of our intollerable Grievances add much to our encouragement. 
Thus connected with each other in sentiment, in common affection, in common 
interest and common danger, we must speedily convince those who conspire our 
ruin that so united we shall .baffle all their machinations." Revolutionary Cor- 
resp., Bancroft Collection, I., 667. Cf. Ibid., I., 1017. Even the Colrain com- 
mittee could write, August 8, 1774, to the Boston committee : "Nine tenths of 
the County of Hampshire : & Berkshire, will stand by you. even with Life & 
fortune." Revolutionary Corresp., III., 263, Bancroft Collection. But the in- 
terception of letters in some cases delayed prompt co-operation. Cf. Ibid., III., 
161. 



GO VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSETTS gy 

weight throughout the province ; they secured as well in 
each town a body whose function it became to promote, 
vigorously if need be, uniformity in the rule of action sug- 
gested by the committee of the capital. 1 

As suggested, the local committee was at first one simply 
of correspondence. Its organization was the direct result of 
the action of the Boston meeting, which had deliberated in 
an atmosphere surcharged with excitement caused by the 
transactions concerning the tea. The directness of the ap- 
peal was so answered and the hazard of the political risks 
presented was met in such a manner, that a fair view of the 
situation need give scant allowance to the slight deviation 
from absolute unanimity throughout the population. At the 
same time, however, the step thus taken was justifiable not 
only from the point of view of policy, but also from that of 
legality. Each town, or district, in the regular meeting of 
its freemen possessed of town privileges, duly elected such a 
committee in the course of its ordinary procedure. By 
these, in each instance, might be sent to Boston information 
concerning military and administrative affairs, upon the de- 
gree of partisanship of the minority, upon the general polit- 
ical feeling in the town or district; and by them, as well, 
might be sent appeals for direction, information and assist- 
ance. The time was distinctly one of exigencies, and to 
provide for promptly and firmly meeting these nothing 
could serve better than such a number of small local com- 
mittees, possessing ample knowledge of the provincial situa- 
tion, acting upon practically identical lines of policy and 
with similar objects and methods, and, furthermore, so con- 
stituted and endorsed as to be able, and to feel free, to turn 
their energy to any line of legitimate political action which 

1 Cf. Joseph Warren, Boston, August 29, 1774, to S. Adams, Philadelphia: 
" I am constantly busied in helping forward the political Machines in all Parts of 
this Province." Autograph Letters of Joseph Warren, Bancroft Collection. 



gS FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [98 

might be necessary. They might check the plans of the 
administration or restrain sympathizers with it among the 
minority of the population, or do whatever else seemed ad- 
visable for the furtherance of the plans and political welfare 
of the colonists. 

While various disconnected efforts at co-operation within 
the province had been made earlier, the effort which resulted 
most successfully, and which was connected most closely 
with the transitional period, was naturally that made in the 
fall of 1772; so that from the end of that year it must be 
understood that the province maintained throughout its ex- 
tent a local organization so constituted as to be always ready 
for prompt and effective action, so created as to attain the 
sanction of legality, and composed of men of such positive 
beliefs and capacity for direct action as to be always ready, 
for the common cause, to countenance, and even to promote, 
acts that were beyond the sphere of legality and that were 
plainly of a revolutionary character. 

It was unavoidable that such local bodies, suddenly organ- 
ized and as suddenly confronted with the serious task of the 
control of the minority, should be impelled to successive acts 
of questionable propriety. Intimidation was in their eyes 
wholly justifiable, and it therefore became, of necessity, very 
common. The committees, planned for distributing in- 
telligence concerning the infraction and maintenance of 
" chartered rights," became organs of forcible political 
propagandism. The effect of their work often showed itself 
in injuries to person, violations of property, and infringe- 
ments of the liberty of those who might in politics choose to 
differ with the party of " movement." The functions thus 
originally of correspondence and publication, became so ex- 
panded as to make the committee the virtually uncontrolled 
engine of a political party, created for the purpose of making 
that party supreme, and restrained from no acts which might 
assist toward that end. 



ggl GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS gg 

As the revolution advanced, the activity of the executive 
committees became differentiated. While in some cases the 
same committee was empowered to undertake specified and 
distinct lines of action, in other cases there appeared an ad- 
ditional committee, characterized, for instance, as that of in- 
spection, or of observation. 1 To the care of committees of 
the latter class was entrusted an extensive but ill-defined 
group of activities including all matters in any wise political, 
as well as personal conduct, trade relations, property rights, 
local security, public finance, the administrative method of 
local officials, and the conformity of the population to the 
recommendations of the county and provincial bodies of 
town delegates and of the continental body of provincial 
delegates. And whether these local committees directed 
their energy against " regrators," against " addressers," or 
against " non-jurors;" whether they ordered the disciplining 
of a royal sheriff, the closing of a royal court, or the expul- 
sion of a stiff necked loyalist; whether they accomplished 
the seizure of weapons held by the disaffected, or prompted 
the enlistment of volunteers, or promoted the gathering of 
supplies for the distressed Bostonians, their work commands 
attention not simply because the results of their efforts were 
so great, but especially because the creation, work, and 
customary attitude of such bodies made it possible that the 
people of the province, although renouncing the most im- 
portant parts of their provincial government and acting 
virtually as revolutionists, should be able to confine them- 
selves to what they considered perfect propriety of action, 
should be able to limit the acts of all within certain bounds, 

1 By virtue of the house resolution of February 13, 1776, a consolidation was 
effected, and each town thereafter was to choose annually a committee of corre- 
spondence, inspection, and safety. 4 American Archives, IV., 1447. An 
original print of this resolution, signed by the speaker, deputy secretary, and 
fifteen members of the council, is in Hawley Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. 
cf. Journal of House of Representatives. 



I oo FR OM PR VINCI AL TO COMMON WEAL TH [ x 00 

and should be able, furthermore, to enter upon the colonial 
revolt with an organization which for all purposes of practical 
politics — and other purposes then had little scope — was com- 
plete. When viewed after the lapse of twelve decades, the 
effect of the greater part of the local activity is seen to have 
been of a nature then not commonly understood. The 
"publication" of a political dissenter was an act in itself of 
ordinary occurrence, but the fact that the " publication " ex- 
pressed the conviction and the opinion of a thoroughly or- 
ganized population, was a fact of fundamental importance. 

This organization of effort in the towns and districts, 
prompted both by the Provincial Congress and by the Con- 
tinental Congress, did not reach its height until the end of 
1774, or shortly thereafter; and by that time such work had 
been strongly supplemented by the action of county confer- 
ences or conventions, bodies outside the cognizance of the 
provincial law, and endeavoring, as did the smaller divisions, 
to enforce popular unity of action and belief, yet differing 
from those in taking a more positive course and in con- 
sciously aiming at the creation of new forms of government 
upon the premise of new statehood. 

Many of the local bodies, which were largely of a 
provisional character, seem to have had no appar- 
ently close connection with the general transitional move- 
ment. Likewise, some of the unusual or extra-constitutional 
arrangements present in themselves no indication that they 
might have had any important effect upon the constitutional 
changes then in progress. Very much, thus, of the manifold 
political activity already suggested was important not so 
much for the rendering of positive assistance toward the ends 
in view, as for the prevention of much which would have 
made the attainment of those ends far more difficult. The 
preservation of local order, the protest against political usur- 
pation, the development of a political unity in the population, 



1 1 1 GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS I0l 

and many other steps, are important elements in the early 
stages of a revolution. Yet ultimate success demands that 
the significance and effect of these preliminary steps should 
be embodied in some positive creation that, in essence at 
least, shall be permanent. Such embodiment, as will be 
seen, was attempted by the Provincial Congress, and by the 
action of the towns preceding the formation of that larger 
body. Under the same category falls much of the activity 
of the county conventions during the crowded months of 
August and September, 1774. Other such bodies, 1 to be 
sure, had earlier taken action concerning commercial and 
political affairs, as non-consumption agreements and parlia- 
mentary taxation; 2 and thereafter such bodies were to take 
important action upon the state of the provincial currency, 
upon the demoralization of prices, 3 and, in certain instances, 
upon constitutional propositions; 4 but at no period did the 
activity of these bodies generally bear with such directness 

1 There were, as well, throughout the period, many conferences not strictly 
county conventions, called usually for some specific purpose. Thus, members of 
the committees of Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester, Watertown, Charlestown, Cam- 
bridge, " Mistick," Dedham, Milton, Maiden, Braintree, Woburn, and Stow, met 
at Boston, September 27, 1774, and took action against supplying the British 
troops with labor and certain supplies. The resolutions were issued on a small 
hand-bill. Revolutionary Corresp., III., 77-S0, Bancroft Collection. Cf. Ibid., 
III., 89, 105, 197. 

2 Thus, a convention of sixty delegates from towns in Berkshire county was held 
at Stockbridge, July 6, 1774. The proceedings are given in Journal of the Pro- 
vincial Congress, 652-655. I find their proceedings and covenant printed also 
in Boston Gazette, no. 1006, July 25, 1774. The proceedings are also in Revolu- 
tionary Corresp., III., 149-154, Bancroft Collection. Cf. Holland, Western 
Massachusetts, I., 206-208. 

3 Cf. Plymouth county convention, May 21, 1777. Massachusetts Spy, no. 321, 
June 27, 1777. An important series of congresses, both county and provincial, 
was held to take action on prices and the currency. 

4 Of such activity, Essex county furnishes an especially good example. Wor- 
cester county held a typical convention November 16, 1776, of which the pro- 
ceedings are printed in 5 American Archives, III., 866, 867, and of which I find 
a record in Massachusetts Spy, no. 292, December 4, 1776. 



I0 2 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ IQ 2 

upon the political needs and upon the organization of a pro- 
visional government as in the two months indicated. 

Even as early as August 9 some fifty-two delegates, re- 
presenting more than a score of towns and districts in Wor- 
cester county, met at the house of " Mrs. Mary Sternes, inn- 
holder," in the town of Worcester. An ambitious effort was 
made by them to express their sentiments to the Massachu- 
setts men soon to attend the Continental Congress. 1 With 
reference to local needs, in view of the iact that " the acts, 
annihilating our once free constitution, are actually authenti- 
cated," they ask the towns still unrepresented to join in the 
effort to make the action of the convention truly representa- 
tive of the entire county. They, furthermore, adopted 
unanimously, and for distribution, a series of resolutions, be- 
ginning, as was common at that period, with a profession of 
true allegiance to King George. This, however, was coupled 
with a denial of the jurisdiction of parliament over the col- 
onies, and was followed by a condemnation of the effort of 
parliament to tax the colonists and to alter a provincial 
charter. The exclusive right to originate local law was 
claimed for the colonists ; attention was given to the sup- 
porters of Gage ; and it was the opinion of the delegates 
upon still another matter, that a non-consumption agreement, 
14 if strictly adhered to, will greatly prevent extravagance, 
save our money, encourage our own manufactures, and re- 
form our manners." 2 

1 An address, " Humbly intemating as our opinion some few measures neces- 
sary to be adopted by the Congress, which address was delivered as those Gentle- 
men passed through this Town." Revolutionary Corresp., III., 819, Bancroft 
Collection. 

5 'Journal of the Provincial Congress, 630. 

On August 19, 1774, Thomas Young, at Boston, wrote to Samuel Adams, at 
Philadelphia : " Worcester has had a County meeting and have sent us their re- 
solves which I this day committed to Messrs. Fleet for publication. They wrote 
us to convene the Boston Committee on the 26th current, and invite Middlesex 
to meet us, at which time they proposed to attend by a Committee from Wor- 



I o 3 ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS j 3 

In the case of certain counties the convention was an event 
quite isolated in the history of the locality. In other 
counties the convention was something more than a single 
meeting or convention. There it attained varying degrees 
of permanence, although its existence could in no case be 
prolonged beyond the period of its utility. Thus, the Wor- 
cester convention already mentioned adjourned, not sine die, 
but to a stated time. Accordingly, on August 30, the 
county convention reassembled, comprising representatives 
of every town and district in the county, 1 the local delega- 
tions consisting, as before, mainly of the local committees of 
correspondence, of whom " there were present one hundred 
and thirty members, together with a number of delegates and 
gentlemen from several towns." 2 By this body, on August 
31, vigorous resolutions were adopted tending to the disab- 
ling of the royal judiciary; an earnest plea was made for the 
maintenance of order, inasmuch as " the dark and gloomy 
aspect of our public affairs has thrown this province into 
great convulsions;" and it was recommended that " fit" per- 
sons be sent to a provincial convention " to devise proper 
ways and means to resume our original mode of goverment, 
. . . ; or some other which may appear to them best cal- 
culated to regain and secure our violated rights." 3 It was 
also voted that town-meetings should be held in the usual 

cester. We have agreed to their proposal, and also invited Salem and Marble- 
haad so that we expect four County's Committees to meet and conclude on 
proper steps to be taken respecting the executive Courts." Adams Papers, Ban- 
croft Collection. The Worcester letter, dated August 15, asked a conference in 
order that a plan with reference to the courts, etc., might be formed, " that will 
easily be adopted by the Counties of Suffolk Middlesex and Worcester which in 
all probability will run through the Province." Revolutionary Corresp., III., 819, 
Bancroft Collection. Cf. Ibid„ III., 821. 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 631. 

2 Ibid., 631. 

8 Ibid., 633. Cf. Mass. Gazette (Draper), September 15, 1774; Salem Gazette, 
no. 15, October 7, 1774; 4 American Archives, I., 795-797. 



I0 4 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COAIMGA WEALTH [J04 

manner, and that the towns should retain the money due to 
the provincial treasury "till public traquillity be restored, 
and more confidence can be reposed in the first magistrate 
and his council." 1 

At a further session of these committees and delegates, held 
September 6, at the house of Mr. Timothy Bigelow, action 
was taken with reference to the closing of the royal courts, 
and that with immediate effect. At a still later session, on 
September 21, an address to Governor Gage was adopted, 2 
steps were taken for the military organization of the county, 
and a county committee of correspondence was created, 3 
with the duty, in part, " to prepare matter to lay before this 
body at their several meetings ; to give the earliest intel- 
ligence to the several committees of any new attack upon 
the liberties of the people, and call a county congressional 
convention at any time, as occasion may require." One 
further act of importance was the recommendation that the 
representatives to the approaching General Court at Salem 
should be instructed to adhere strictly to the provincial 
charter as interpreted by the colonists, and that they should 
be given suitable instructions with reference to the possible 
meeting of a Provincial Congress. 

Also in August, on the last two days of the month, there 
met at Concord one hundred and fifty committeemen, coming 
from every town and district in Middlesex county. 4 James 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 634. 

Certain resolves of the Worcester county convention, of August 29 to September 
21, 1774, are printed in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post Boy, no. 893, Oc- 
tober 3, 1774; and in the Essex Gazette, nos. 323, 324, October 4 and 11, 1774. 

2 Journal of the Provincial Cojigress, 644, 645. 

3 Consisting of the committees of correspondence of the towns of Worcester 
and Leicester, and of Messrs. Thomas Denny, Joseph Henshaw, and Joshua 
Bigelow. Ibid., 643. 

4 The proceedings are given in Journal of the Provincial Congress, 609-614. 
Cf Boston Evening Post, no. 2033, September 12, 1774; 4 American Archives, 

I., 750-753; Mass. Gazette (Draper), September 15, 1774; Essex Journal, no. 
39, September 14, 1774; Essex Gazette, no. 320, September 6-13, 1774. 



! ^ 1 GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS j 5 

Prescott presided, and the principal work was incorporated 
in a report of the committee, adopted by a vote of one hun- 
dred and forty-six to four, asserting their allegiance to their 
" gracious sovereign," and, with reference to the charter, the 
courts, and the Provincial Congress, assuming a position 
similar to that already taken in Worcester. The alteration 
of the jury system was said to be " not only an evident in- 
fraction upon our charter, but a subversion of our common 
rights as Englishmen." The right of every people to meet, 
to petition, and to use every legal method for the removal 
of their common grievances, was asserted ; and they insisted 
that any act which should prohibit such meetings " cuts 
away the scaffolding of English freedom, and reduces us to 
a most abject state of vassalage and slavery." Resolves of 
less special significance were adopted ; and all was based 
upon such premises as this, that by the act of parliament 
" the fountains of justice are fatally corrupted." In such 
situation, they say: "Our defence must, therefore, be im- 
mediate in proportion to the suddenness of the attack, and 
vigorous in proportion to the danger." It was ordered that 
a copy of the convention's proceedings should be sent to 
the Continental Congress and to the clerk of each town in 
the county; and thereupon the convention voted its own 
dissolution. 

On the following Tuesday, September 6, two other county 
conventions met, one at Dedham, the other at Ipswich. At 
the latter delegates gathered from every town in Essex 
county, and in the course of a two days' session a series of 
resolves, " after being read several times, debated on, and 
amended, were unanimously accepted, the delegates, one by 
one, declaring their assent." 1 These dealt with the adminis- 

1 Sixty-eight delegates were present. The proceedings are printed in Journal 
of the Provincial Congress, 6 1 5-6 18. The resolves of this convention are in the 
Boston Evening Post, no. 2034, September 19, 1774. 

On the origin of this convention, see, for example, the vote of Ipswich, of 



I0 6 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ I0 6 

trative and constitutional problems already indicated, and 
added little to the current expression on those questions. As 
to the continuance of the county convention, the members 
took a novel step in empowering the members from two 
towns, Salem and Marblehead, to call another meeting of the 
delegates whenever they should think it necessary. 

The convention which assembled at Dedham, September 
6, and which continued its session at Milton, September 9, 
expressed for Suffolk county vigorous opinions concerning 
the points of controversy then familiar. 1 They repeated, in 
language more blunt than any used before and in terms 
which made this convention somewhat famous, the prevalent 
opinion that the three acts of parliament in question should 
not be obeyed. The condition of affairs at Boston prompted 
the demand that freedom of communication should be 
allowed between Boston and the outlying districts. To this 
address Gage returned an empty answer void of assurance. 
The committee in charge, 2 desiring not to be placed in a false 

August 29, 1774, Lincoln Papers. Also, as to the vote of Marblehead, of August 
15, 1774, to which the vote of Ipswich refers, see Roads, History of Marblehead, 
104. For the proceedings, Cf. Mass. Gazette (Draper), September 22, 1774; 
Salem Gazette, vol. I., no. 12, September 16, 1774. 

1 Its proceedings are in Journal of the Provincial Congress, 601-609. The 
resolutions appear in Boston Evening Post, no. 2034, September 19, 1774. These 
were printed, with the resolution of the Continental Congress of September 17, 
1774, in the Connecticut Courant, no. 509, September 26, 1774. The resolutions 
of the county convention are also in Teele, History of Milton, 425-429. Cf. 
Boston Evening Post, nos. 2034, 2037, September 19, October 10, 1774; Connecti- 
cut Journal, no. 362, September 23, 1774; Salem Gazette, October 14, 1774; 
4 American Archives, I., 776-779, 901-903. 

The preliminary county conference of Suffolk was held at Col. Doty's inn, 
Stoughton, August 16. An invitation to attend, extended by the committees of 
Dorchester, Roxbury, Milton, and Brookline, is in Revolutionary Corresp., III., 
627, Bancroft Collection. In a letter of August 21, 1774, Joseph Warren men- 
tioned " the County Meeting which depend upon it will will [sic] have very im- 
portant Consequences." Autograph Letters of Joseph Warren, Bancroft Collec- 
tion. 

2 Including Joseph Warren, Benjamin Church, Joseph Palmer, and William 
Heath. 



1 07] GO VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 1 j 

light by specious questions proposed by Gage in his 
response, sent him a further address in which they aimed to 
"justify the proceedings for which your excellency seems to 
be at a loss to account." They insisted "that no wish of in- 
dependence, no adverse sentiments or designs towards his 
majesty or his troops now here," actuated the men they rep- 
resented, as they repeated, as their only request, that the 
commander should desist from the work of fortifying Boston, 
that the entrance into the town might remain " as nature has 
formed it." Such an address Gage refused to receive " in 
form," and the committee imitated the convention by dis- 
solving, prefacing the step by the resolution " that they had 
executed the commission entrusted to them by the county, 
to the utmost of their ability." 

Scarcely a week after Warren's committee gave up its 
effort to reach an understanding, thirty-six men representing 
nine constituencies in Cumberland county met at the house 
of Mrs. Greele, in Falmouth. 1 Their first day, September 
21, was occupied in taking action concerning the request of 
" the body of the people, who were assembled at the entrance 
of the town," and in requiring the attendance of the sheriff 
in order that they might determine his position with reference 
to the recent acts of parliament. He agreed to an appro- 
priate declaration ; this, under escort of the convention, he 
read " to the people, which they voted to be satisfactory, 
and after refreshing themselves, returned peaceably to their 
homes." On the following day, a series of resolutions was 
unanimously adopted describing at large the attitude already 
defined, and including both a clause in favor of the encourage- 
ment of manufacturers and an appeal that " every one 
should do his utmost to discourage lawsuits, and likewise 

x The proceedings are in Journal of the Provincial Congress, 655-660. The 
resolutions and list of delegates were printed in the Essex Gazette, no. 323, 
October 4, 1774. The resolutions are in 4 American Archives, I., 798-802. 



108 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ I0 g 

compromise disputes . . .," and that every one, furthermore, 
should endeavor " to suppress, at all times, riots, mobs, and 
all licentiousness, and that our fellow subjects would consider 
themselves, as they always are, in the presence of the great 
God, who loveth order, not confusion." 

On the day when this convention at Falmouth dissolved, 
committeemen from nearly all the towns and districts of 
Hampshire county' met at Northampton, and in a two days' 
session announced their resolve to co-operate on the new 
lines of action. The proposal by the Middlesex convention 
of a Provincial Congress was expressly endorsed by the as- 
sembly at Northampton. The attitude of this body on 
another matter was excellently stated when, to all those 
towns which might elect representatives by virtue of Gage's 
writ, they suggested that it should be carefully considered 
" whether any such representatives can do any one act in 
concert with his excellency Thomas Gage, Esq., and his 
mandamus council, without an implied acknowledgment of 
the authority and force of the above-said acts of parliament." 

During the following week two further county conventions 
were held. That of September 26 and 27 was an ample 
representation of Plymouth county, and by it were passed 
emphatic resolves bearing on the policies already indicated. 2 " 
More simple, although of similar purport, were the resolu- 

*The proceedings are in Journal of the Provincial Congress, 618-621. The 
list of delegates is given. Charlemont and Southwick were not represented- 
Hadley and Amherst each chose three delegates; Judd, History of Hadley, 406, 
420. The proceedings were printed in the Boston Evening Post, no. 2037,. 
October 10, 1774. 

2 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 621-625. Fifty-two delegates repre- 
sented the fourteen towns of the county. The session of September 26 was at 
Plympton, of September 27 at Plymouth. The resolutions were printed in the 
Massachusetts Spy, no. 193, October 13, 1774, and in the Boston Gazette, no. 
1017, October 10, 1774. Cf Mass. Gazette (Draper), October 13, 1774; Salem 
Gazette, no. 16, October 14, 1774; Boston Evening Post, no. 2037, October io r 
1774. 



1 09] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS IO g 

tions adopted by the delegates of several Bristol county 
towns who on September 28 and 29 met at Taunton. 1 

Throughout practically the entire province, the represen- 
tatives of the people of the towns were thus brought to- 
gether for united action in their respective counties. 2 Each 
county, with unimportant exceptions, became possessed of a 
definite political organization, in some cases temporary and 
in all extra-constitutional, but vigorously used and well 
adapted for the immediate attainment of certain political ob- 
jects which then were clearly understood. 3 These were re- 
peatedly expressed by town-meetings and endorsed by 
county conventions, and their feasibility was demonstrated 
by the gathering of the first Provincial Congress in the week 
after the Bristol convention had met at Taunton. By that 
step the provisional organization was so developed as to co- 
incide in its range of influence with the organization earlier 
maintained under the provincial charter. It was a simple 
thing for the leaders of neighboring towns, even of an entire 
county, to meet for conference and for the expression, in 
large degree authoritative, of their political beliefs and pur- 
poses. Such a step, however, unless carrying some endorse- 
ment of weight or significance, would not appear especially 

1 Proceedings in Journal of the Provincial Congress, 626, 627. Eleven towns 
were represented. The resolutions appeared in the Mass, Spy, October 6, 1774, 
and have been reprinted in Quarter Millennial of Taunton, 395-397. 

2 Even as to Barnstable county, cf letter of Chatham committee to Boston 
committee, Nov. 1, 1774; postscript: "Liberty Gains Ground Considerable we 
have Got a County Congress and are to Set y e 16th Currant Notwithstanding all 
oppersition and it is Said that Even Harwich are about it." Revolutionary 
Corresp., III., 243, Bancroft Collection. Cf Resolutions of York county, 
November 16, 1774: 4 American Archives, I., 983-985. 

3 " Speculator " admits the legality of committees of correspondence as town 
officers, but criticises the county conventions, although of the latter he says : 
" When the powers of government in this State were suspended by the enemies 
of our peace, such political manoeuvres were necessary, and tended greatly to the 
salvation of America; . . . ." Boston Gazette, no. 11 14, September 23, 1776. 
This article I have found to be reprinted in 5 American Archives, II., 339. 



IIO FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ IIO 

serious to the administration. Nevertheless, the similar 
gathering of delegates of all towns in a body representative 
practically of the entire province, while attended with far 
greater difficulty, was no new thing in the politics of Massa- 
chusetts. 1 It was a move, furthermore, certain, if successful,, 
to present a difficult problem to the home government. 

The experiment was successfully tried, and the English 
authorities, finding a province, which had hitherto been loyal, 
now fully organized and being driven beyond recall along 
the path of revolt, resorted to the arbitrament of arms and to 
political seduction. The one course was a failure, the other 
an anomaly; and virtual recognition of the de facto govern- 
ment of the provincial territory was hastened both by the 
ineffective course of the royal government and by the readi- 
ness and ability of the provisional organization to assume 
the character and perform the functions commonly belong- 
ing to a recognized government. With it the royal governor 
treated ; to it he and those he represented surrendered the 
control of the royal province ; by it were speedily assumed 
all those duties and privileges which made it the head of the 
only government that, existing on the territory of the earlier 
province, was recognized either by the inhabitants therein or 
by any power in those parts of the continent which even 
then were establishing new governmental arrangements 
typical, as well as indicative, of a new nationality. 

Still more evident did the position occupied by the pro- 
vincial government become when the outbreak of hostilities 
made the problem one of military science as well as of 
politics, when there was shown the plain necessity of some 
such directing force, and when the opportunities for the 
exertion of its power became numerous and important. 
Then it was that the true effect and significance of all this 
preparation by detailed and harmonious organization was 

1 Cf. The conventions of 1689 and 1768. 



Ill] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS lTl 

made plain. In the time of actual crisis the people of 
Massachusetts were able to act calmly and consistently, as 
well as unitedly. Strong enough to overcome internal dis- 
sension, they were able also to present outwardly a solid 
front. Their political solidity in the months when such was re- 
quisite was a guarantee of success, and, if appreciated, made it 
evident that the essential elements of the revolutionary move- 
ment were not simply military ; neither was it wholly a 
national movement, but such that its character was most 
clearly revealed in local or provincial transitions even if 
they embraced few events so thrilling as to appeal strongly 
to the patriotic impulse. The earlier status was wholly 
provincial ; the occasion and the beginning of the Revolution 
were purely local ; provincial power was the basis, and 
subsequent commonwealth individualism was the destruc- 
tion, of the first national government; throughout the period 
local rights and power found ready assertion except when 
smothered in the exigencies which made nationalism a 
piety and a necessity; throughout those years, as well, 
the province, and later the commonwealth, has always to be 
considered as a force concurrent, in all affairs of revolution, 
with the Continental Congress, and rendering to that body 
such assistance toward making the continent a unit as had 
been rendered to the central body of the province by the 
various town committees and county committees and county 
conventions. These, in the time of crisis, averted the weak- 
ness of anarchy and discord, and gave to Massachusetts 
such unity, strength, and regularity of organization as as- 
sured either success without remorse or failure without 
regret. 



CHAPTER V 



THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESS 



§ i. General Review 

THE circumstances attending the disappearance of the 
royal legislature were for the colonists especially fortunate. 
The dissolution of that body harmonized with the plan of 
the more progressive faction l and offered an excellent op- 
portunity for readily completing the program which already 
had been proposed and even begun. Local disorganization 
had been in large measure prevented by the maintenance of 
town governments ; the possibilities of general and consistent 
action had been increased by the work of the several 
county conventions ; and now the effectiveness of the many 
local efforts at organization and opposition was to be greatly 
increased. This was to be secured by the creation of a 
governing body representative of all the towns in the prov- 
ince and invested with power sufficient to perform all those 
necessary functions the suspension of which had been oc- 
casioned by, or had helped to occasion, the fall of the royal 
government in the province. The colonists having attained 
the political ends desired, it was essential to final success 
that they should avoid the disorganization naturally incident 
to the overthrow of a provincial government. Such unfor- 
tunate result they did avoid by the formation, as a tempo- 
rary expedient, of this single representative body, which for 
the time being was recognized as possessing, with certain 

1 Even so early as June 1774, it had been said: "We will have a Congress at 
Concord." Cf. Winsor, History of Duxbury, 125. 

112 [112 



I 1 3 ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHU SETTS j j 3 

limitations, the supremacy in executive and judicial, as well 
as in legislative affairs. The towns, the constituencies of the 
members of this central body, continued to claim and actively 
to exercise certain important rights, so that in the Massa- 
chusetts Congress it was quite impossible to develop such a 
type of dictatorship as is shown in the similar bodies in cer- 
tain other provinces. Nevertheless, the Provincial Congress 
of Massachusetts assumed functions of sufficiently broad 
scope to effect successfully, and at the same time in a con- 
servative manner, a transition to a more definitely organized 
form of government. 

The theory of the situation excluded strict consideration 
of legality, 1 for, as Thomas Young wrote, " the Laws of God, 
of Nature and Nations oblige us to cast about for safety." 2 
While the elastic " law of nature," however, might put wholly 
out of consideration the legal relations subsisting between 
the province and the home government, it was not by acts 
interpreted as destroying the binding force of obligations 
and relations within the province; 3 so that, while looking 
at the situation from one point of view, there appears to 

1 Cf Joseph Hawley's "Broken Hints:" "The people will have some govern- 
ment or other . . . ; legislation and executive justice must go on in some 

form or other, and we may depend on it they will; — - . . . ." Niles, Prin- 
ciples and Acts, 325. 

Cf. Letter by " Junius Americanus," addressed to Gen. Gage : " You charge 
the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay with subverting their charter, by assembling 
in an illegal and unconstitutional manner. In this step, Sir, they have been 
obliged from the tyranny of laws to the liberty of nature." Reprinted from the 
Pennsylvania yournal in New York Journal, no. 1664, November, 1774. 

Cf. Vote of West Springfield, April 11, 1775: "That the delegates be in- 
structed to dissent from any proposal that may be made for setting up any form 
of civil government differing from that obtained in the Charter we hold under 
William and Mary, excepting where the Laws of Self-preservation (which super- 
sede all others) necessarily require it." Lincoln Papers. 

2 Thomas Young, Boston, September 4, 1774, to S. Adams, Philadelphia. 
Adams Papers, Bancroft Collection. 

3 Cf B. H. Hall, History of Eastern Vermont, 256. 



!!4 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ II4 

have been a complete disregard of law, from another point 
of view there appears a scrupulous observance of all such 
elements of law and propriety as could render the proceed- 
ings of the revolutionists more effective and impart to them 
a clearer justification. The steps in the creation of a revo- 
lutionary body were as orderly and as near a semblance of 
legality as was possible; 1 a provincial representation was 
suggested by the committee of one county ; the time and 
place of meeting were proposed by the convention of another 
county ; and the movement was at once endorsed by those 
more permanent bodies, the town-meetings. These, with 
remarkable uniformity, empowered their representatives, on 
the occasion of the anticipated break with the executive, to 
resolve themselves into a Provincial Congress. Such, as has 
been seen, 2 was done, and even more. The election of re- 
presentatives with these unusual powers had been often ac- 
companied by the election of additional delegates to act 
simply in the Provincial Congress at the time and place 
agreed. The revolutionary body was thus, numerically, 
much more fully representative than the legal legislature 

x Some local writers take an extreme position. Referring to October 4, 1774: 
'The vote of the assembly, therefore, — all the members of which had been legally 
elected in the manner prescribed by the charter, and under the call of the Gov- 
ernor, — must be considered the legitimate act of the province, in the only way in 
which the province could express its pleasure." A. C. Goodell, Jr., in Essex 
Institute Historical Collections, XIII., 31, 32. 

2 " As it was not thought prudent to assume all the powers of an organized 
government, they chose a president, and acted as a provincial congress, as pre- 
viously proposed." Warren, History of American Revolution, L, 163. 

Letter to Berkshire county, Sept. 24, 1774 [from Boston committee] : "We 
. . . forward you a Copy of the Proceedings of this & the Neighbouring 
Countys wherein we are univerally of Opinion that 'tis best to send as many 
Representatives as the Charter & Province Laws allow & them to instruct not to 
dissolve themselves but to form a provinciall Congress there to consult & execute 
Measures that concern the internall Government of y e Province, . . . ." Revo- 
lutionary Corresp., III., 159, Bancroft Collection. 



1 1 5 ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS x j 5 

would have been. 1 The resolving of a body of anomalous 
representativ >s into a Provincial Congress at Salem was 
followed by a prompt adjournment to Concord 2 and by the 
merging there on the appointed date, October 11, of the two 
sets of delegates into a body which for almost ten months 
was to direct the common affairs of the province. 

The Congress which thus met was in more than numbers 
thoroughly representative. It was the direct organ of the 
towns, composed of responsible delegates acting under the 
direction of their respective towns. It was, as well, a body 
which had the recognition and support of practically the en- 
tire population. 3 Thus, in a letter already quoted, an active 
worker had written : " I have not heard a single individual 
object to a Provincial Congress, nor is it likely any objection 
will be made to any conclusions which may be formed 
there." 4 So, in fact, it was ; then was shown the vigor of 
public opinion and the force of its endorsement. Otherwise 
it would have been impossible for this body to take the posi- 
tion in which it " conducted the affairs of the colony as if 

: The Massachusetts Spy, of October 13, 1774, states that there were 90 dele- 
gates present, October 5. The same paper, in its issue of October 20, states that 
on October 14 more than 260 delegates were present. And also cf Austin, Life 
of Gerry, I., 58. Bradford, History of Massachusetts, 245, incorrectly states 
that there were 288 delegates at Salem, October 7. "The whole number of 
members was 288; . . . ." Shattuck, History of Concord, 91. 

2 " ye Members convened at Salem, after having passed a Resolve or two for 
reprehending this Measure of ye ignorant General, adjourned to Concord for ye 
Convenience of meeting Members added to the ye Provincial Congress as will 
appear by ye papers; . . . ." E. Gerry, Boston, October 15, 1774, to S. Adams r 
Philadelphia. Adams Papers, Bancroft Collection. 

3 Although, cf Athol committee, July 20, 1774, to Boston committee: "We 
greatly Lement that their are so great a number amonngst ourselves that Join in 
the Conspiracy to overthrow our Excelent Constitution and to introduce a tirani- 
cal and arbitary Goverment." Revolutionary Corresp., III., 140, Bancroft Col- 
lection. 

* Thomas Young, Boston, September 4, 1774, to S. Adams. Philadelphia. 
Adams Papers, Bancroft Collection. 



! j6 FR OM PR O VINCIAL TO COMMONWEAL TH [ l x 6 

they had been regularly invested with all the powers of gov- 
ernment ;" and in such a manner that their recommendations, 
as has been accurately stated, " were respected as sacred 
laws." 1 To be sure, these men had " no justification for 
convening by any provisions of the provincial charter," 2 and 
they recognized the situation ; they countenanced a revo- 
lution, but presumably they aimed at what they considered 
the best interests of their sovereign ; they iyere eager to 
save the province from impending anarchy, and in the effort 
they rendered impossible both the ruin of anarchy and the 
misrule of monarchy. When the first Provincial Congress 
began its sessions, royal rule in Massachusetts was very 
limited both as to territory and as to functions ; its contin- 
uance was possible, although problematical. When the last 
Provincial Congress was dissolved, royal rule in Massachu- 
setts was practically impossible ; the difficulties attending 
it had for twelve months been increasing, and had by events 
been given a significant emphasis. 

The body in whose control now rested the affairs of Mas- 
sachusetts effected at Concord a formal organization 3 by the 
election of those officers who at Salem had been provision- 
ally chosen ; and they at once placed in the hands of fifteen 
leaders, termed the " committee to take into consideration 
the state of the province," 4 the practical direction of future 

1 John Marshall, History of the Colonies planted by the English on . . . North 
America, 424. 

' 2 J. T. Austin, Life of Elbridge Gerry, I., 52, 53. 

3 The distribution of the members among counties was as follows : Middlesex, 
75; Worcester, 56; Hampshire, 39; Suffolk, 34; Essex, 27; Plymouth, 18; 
Bristol, 16; Barnstable, 8; Berkshire, 7; York, 6; Cumberland, 5; Dukes, 2; 
Lincoln, o; Nantucket, o. 

*The committee included Hancock, Hawley, Gerry, Ward, and the two Warrens. 
Journal of the Provincial Congress, 16, 17. On November 23, others were 
added, including the members of the recent Continental Congress then in the 
Provincial Congress. Lbid., 49. On December 5, John Adams was added. 
Ibid., 58. 



1 1 y~\ GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS I x y 

events. The Congress itself proceeded forthwith to the 
exercise of such powers as the welfare of the people was 
supposed to demand, and of such powers as were deemed 
ample to maintain the authority of the people and the 
security of political society during this strictly transitional 
period between the end of the king's government and the 
organization of a new government on a definite basis. It 
was natural that such a body should carry fully as much 
weight with its constituents as had the preceding one of 
June j 1 in each case the elections had been conducted on the 
same basis and with equal regard to statutory forms ; 2 in the 
procedure of the bodies the difference was such only as was 
necessitated by the absence of an executive and the lack of 
a bicameral arrangement in the legislature. To the colonist, 
thus, the Congress differed from an assembly only in those 
points wherein the results of the administration plan were 
seen ; for such violence to the provincial forms of govern- 
ment the colonist considered himself in no manner respon- 
sible; he attempted, by his expressions, 3 to throw the bur- 
den of responsibility upon his adversary; he attempted 
further, by his acts, to show the sincerity of those expressions, 
to make them tangible, and to save himself/ 

1 Lecky says : " It was obeyed as if it had been a regular branch of the Legis- 
lature, and it proceeded to organize the revolution." But he recognizes no at- 
tempt at a legal session of the General Court. History of England in the 
Eighteenth Century, III., 419, 420. 

2 Stedman, War in America, I., 108, calls this body a "self-constituted con- 
gress." 

3 Later, April 19, 181 3, John Adams wrote to E. Gerry: "Why was the au- 
thority of Massachusetts, which enacted the law in all the forms of the constitu- 
tion by their charter, called a convention? It was the general court, the regular 
legal constitutional legislature of the province, the crown governour having abdi- 
cated." J. T. Austin, Life of Elbridge Gerry, L, 515. 

4 A very unusual vote was that of South Brimfield, January 17, 1775^0 the 
effect that they were not acquainted with the Provincial Congress and could not 
pledge adherence to all its acts; but that they would observe the " principles of 



1 1 8 FROM PRO VINCIAL TO COMMON WEAL TH [ x j g 

The possibility of such salvation for the colonist now- 
rested with the course of the delegates in the Provincial 
Congress. In their first session, which ended October 14, 
they adopted an 1 address to General Gage in which they 
treated of the attitude of the public, discussed military af- 
fairs, and laid special stress upon the erection, by the royal 
authorities, of works of defence on Boston " Neck." Gage 
made reply on October 17, disclaiming any evil purpose in 
his military operations, and challenging the legality of the 
body thus distinctly : " It is my duty, therefore, however ir- 
regular your application is, to warn you of the rock you are 
upon, and to require you to desist from such illegal and un- 
constitutional proceedings." 2 On the same day he writes of 
this message as one " which I had some difficulty in con- 
triving, as I cannot consider them a legal Assembly, and a 
handle would have been made of it had I refused ; and it was, 
moreover, necessary to warn them of their conduct, and re- 
quire them to desist from such unconstitutional proceed- 
ings." 3 He avoided giving the colonists a " handle," but 
neither his statements nor those of the Congress could do 
more than define the problem and intensify the divergence 
of the parties involved. 

On the day Gage wrote his disclaimer the Congress as- 
sembled at Cambridge, and there further expressed its rela- 
tion to the interests of royalty. By a resolution of October 
21 it was provided that all persons holding commissions 
under the forms recently prescribed by parliament, should be 

English Liberty " and would give regard to the advice of the Provincial Congress, 
" as far as agrees with our former Provincial Charter." Lincoln Papers. 

October 13, 1774; Journal of the Provincial Congress, 17, 18. This is 
printed in Niles, Principles and Acts, 297, 298. 

On October 1 1 there were 260 present and only one dissenting voice in the 
votes on this matter. Boston Gazette, no. 1018, October 17, 1774. 

' l Journal of the Provincial Congress, 21. 

s To Lord Dartmouth. 4 American Archives, I., 880. 



I i g ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 1X g 

given ten days in which to publish an acknowledgment of 
their former misconduct and a renunciation of their commis- 
sions, or to be " published " and treated as rebels. 1 The 
defiance of parliament was unequivocal ; the entire royal 
Civil list was to go the way of the mandamus council. That 
the plan of action thus indicated was endorsed by a sincere 
and sober purpose, was soon made evident. The advan- 
tages accruing from checking, if not completely stopping, 
royal administration, were to be enhanced by the creation of 
a similar official body recognizing only the authority of the 
people as expressed by their Provincial Congress. The 
movement was illustrated by the early action of the Congress 
in electing Henry Gardner receiver-general, 2 and in author- 
izing him to receive from the several collectors the money 
held by them on the account of the province. At the same 
time they advised the towns to direct their financial officers 
holding public money to pay the same at once to Gardner, 
engaging that such payments should operate as a complete 
release of the collectors from all subsequent claims relative 
to the legality of this action. It was also recommended that 
the sheriffs as well should make payments to Gardner. 3 The 
general recognition of the new financial officer by the towns 4 
whence, and by the subordinates through whom, the money 
came, gave to the colonists one element of strength thor- 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 25. Cf. Ibid., 51, 52, 56, 60, 61, 94, 96, 
III-113, 236, 249, 344. 

1 Ibid., 36-38. Cf. Ibid., 61, 65, 66, 113, 114, 146. 207, 234. 

*Ibid, 3 8, 39. 

4 E. g.: Marblehead, January 2-10, 1775, Essex Gazette, no. 338, January 17, 
1775; Plymouth, December 29, 1774, January 3, 1775, Essex Gazette, no. 339, 
January 24, 1775; Falmouth, January 3, 1775, ibid. Sutton, January 5, 1775, 
Benedict and Tracy, History of Sutton, 92; Oxford, April 17, 1775, Daniels, 
History of Oxford, 128; Concord, November 21, 1774, Shattuck, History of Con- 
cord, 92. 



I2 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ I2 o 

oughly essential to their success in a strenuous contest. 1 To 
their opponents the step was a clear sign of the coming de- 
velopments. It foreshadowed the formation of a government 
based on the authority of the people ; and even if a denial of 
the king's sovereignty was now avoided, this action, and 
others like it, were the preliminaries of a reorganization of 
the state. 3 The stake was great; for the men of the conven- 
tion and for their friends a course of defiance might mean 
the loss of all; destruction, at least political destruction, was 
even then in their path ; but they dared to presume upon 
eventual success, and to act upon the presumption; and in 
that daring, they showed the reasonableness of Warren's en- 
thusiasm, when of the convention he had written, "You 
would have thought yourself in an Assembly of Spartans or 
ancient Romans, had you been a witness to the ardour which 
inspired those who spoke upon the important business they 
were transacting." 3 

The third session of the first Provincial Congress, extend- 
ing from October 17 to October 29, 1774, was marked by 

1 November 18, 1774, King George wrote to Lord North: "... the New 
England Governments are in a state of rebellion, blows must decide . . . ." 
Donne, Correspondence of George III. with Lord North, I., 215. 

2 Cf. Gage to Lord Dartmouth, October 3, 1774: "They are shortly to have a 
Provincial Congress in this Colony, composed chiefly of the Representatives 
lately chosen to meet at Concord, where it is supposed measures will be taken 
for the government of the Province." 4 American Archives, L, 815. Gage to 
Dartmouth, September 20, 1774: "They talk of fixing a plan of Government of 
their own, . . . ." Ibid., I., 795. 

3 Jos. Warren, Boston, November 21, 1774, to Josiah Quincy, Jr. 4 American 
Archives, L, 990. In the same letter Warren expresses the belief that the recent 
dissolution of Parliament and the receipt of favorable letters from England " will 
induce us to bear the inconvenience of living without Government until we have 
some further intelligence of what may be expected from England. It will re- 
quire, however, a very masterly policy to keep the Province for any considerable 
time longer in its present state." He further states that Boston is by far the 
most moderate part of the province. The letter is printed in Frothingham, Life 
of Joseph Warren, 394-396. 



1 2 i ] GO VERNMENT IN MASSA CHUSE TTS ! 2 i 

several acts of a general and preparatory nature, bearing 
especially upon the commercial and administrative relations 
with Great Britain, and pointing naturally, in each case, to a 
more or less prompt severance of those connections. A 
"replication" to Gage's reply is formed at the close of the 
session ; and in this they endeavor to prove " that while the 
* avowed enemies ' of Great Britain and the colonies, are 
protected by your excellency, the lives, liberties, and 
properties of the province, who are real friends to the British 
constitution, are greatly endangered, whilst under the control 
of your standing army." 1 On the other hand, in regard to 
their maintenance of the charter, they hold that a statement 
of " the truth, relative to this matter, must be a full vindi- 
cation of our conduct therein." They assert that their con- 
stituents " have been compelled, for the laudable purposes 
of preserving the constitution, and therein their freedom, to 
obtain the wisdom of the province in a way which is not only 
justifiable by reason, but, under the present exigencies of the 
state, directed by the principles of the constitution itself ;"*' 
and for their justification allude to English precedent at the 
revolution of 1689. Having taken progressive action with 
reference to the local militia organizations, the provincial 
treasurer, and the Committee of Safety, and having already ap- 
pointed a committee " to sit in the recess of this congress, "3 an 
adjournment was taken on October 29 until November 23. 

This fourth and last session of the first Congress, like that 
immediately preceding, was held at Cambridge. The actual 
session was one only of sixteen days ; in other connections 
have been indicated the principal acts therein. By a special 
address it was aimed to secure the helpful influence of the 

October 29, 1774; Journal of the Provincial Congress, 43. 

2 Ibid., 44. 

3 October 27, 1774; the committee comprised Messrs. Hawley, Hancock,. 
Dexter, Gerry, Heath, Foster, and James Warren. Ibid., 35, 36. 



122 F R OM PR O VINCIAL TO COMMON WEAL TH [ j 2 2 

clergy in behalf of the resolutions of the Continental Con- 
gress ; attention was given to the tory town of Hardwick and 
the distasteful " association " of Timothy Ruggles ; while in 
acting upon a memorial from the Baptists the Congress an- 
nounced that its members considered themselves as " being 
by no means vested with powers of civil government, 
whereby they can redress the grievances of any person 
whatsoever, . . . . Ml Before dissolving, this Congress adopted 
an address to their constituents, which was ordered to be 
printed in all the Boston newspapers and to be issued in a 
hand-bill to every town and district in the province. This 
began with a strong characterization of the time when they 
were chosen to consult on matters of common safety and 
defense as a time " when the good people of this colony 
were deprived of their laws, and the administration of justice, 
civil and criminal ; when the cruel oppressions brought on 
their capital had stagnated almost all their commerce ; when 
a standing army was illegally posted among us for the ex- 
press purpose of enforcing submission to a system of 
tyranny ; and when the general court was, with the same 
design, prohibited to sit; ... ." 2 They early inserted the 
saving qualification that they still had " confidence in the 
wisdom, justice, and goodness of our sovereign, as well as 
the integrity, humanity and good sense of the nation; 
although " the general tenor of our intelligence from Great 
Britain, with the frequent reinforcements of the army and 
navy at Boston," excited " the strongest jealousy that the 
system of colony administration, so unfriendly to the protes- 
tant religion, and destructive of American liberty," was still 
to be pursued and attempted with force to be carried into 

1 December 9, 1774. Journal of the Provincial Congress, 67. 

2 December 10, 1774. Ibid., 69. This is printed in Niles, Principles and 
Acts, 298-300, under date of December 4, 1774, although no session was held on 
that day. 



123] GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS l2 ^ 

execution." Even so they urged their fellowmen all to be 
"" solicitous, that no disorderly behavior, nothing unbecom- 
ing our characters as Americans, as citizens, and christians, 
be justly chargeable to us." 1 The commercial situation and 
the military outlook served as themes of encouragement; 
the political condition of England was indicated ; and a plea 
put forth for undeviating adherence to the plans of the Conti- 
nental and Provincial Congresses. 

In connection with the last they gave a view of the 
internal relations of the revolutionary organizations, when 
they said : " Your Provincial Congresses .... will hold up 
the towns, if any should be so lost as not to act their parts, 
and none can doubt that the Continental Congresses will 
rectify errors, should any take place in any colony through 
the subtilty of our enemies." 2 The equipment and disci- 
pline of the militia were emphasized, and their conclusion 
offered the " determination to stand or fall with the liberties 
of America," and the hope that " this injured people" might 
be " reinstated in the full exercise of their rights without the 
evils and devastations of a civil war." 3 This address, it was 
later directed, was to be sent to each local committee of cor- 
respondence, or, if none such existed, to the selectmen of 
each town and district; the same distribution was to be made 
of a report presented by the committee on the state of the 
province, and accepted the same day. The preamble 
alluded to the " fatal experience " of other states incident to 
a too protracted delegation of powers. The resolutions 
stated that the adjournment of October 29 was made " from 
a due consideration of the present exigencies of the public 
affairs, and the evident necessity of farther deliberation 
thereon." 4 Such a condition did not then exist to sanction 
a similar step and theory condemned a longer continuance 

1 Jotirnal of the Provincial Congress, 70. 

* Ibid., 71. s Ibid., 71, 72. 4 Ibid., 73. 



124 FR 0M PR ° VINCIAL T0 COMMONWEAL TH [ 1 2 4. 

of the present Congress. The Congress, therefore, resolved 
upon its own dissolution, but " being deeply impressed with 
a sense of the increasing dangers which threatened " the 
rights and liberties of the people of this province with total; 
ruin," they recognized the necessity of a frequent meeting 
of a provincial assembly ; and they acted accordingly. It 
was recommended to each town and district that those in 
each who were qualified by provincial law to vote for repre- 
sentatives in the General Assembly should elect as many 
members as might be determined by such constituencies, 
to meet in a Provincial Congress at Cambridge on February 
1, 1775, and to serve therein until a specified day in the 
subsequent May. 

The function of this second Congress was indicated as be- 
ing " to consult, deliberate and resolve upon such farther 
measures as, under God, shall be effectual to save this people 
from impending ruin, and to secure those inestimable liber- 
ties derived to us from our ancestors, and which it is our duty 
to preserve for posterity." 1 Difficulty during the intervening 
period was to be avoided by empowering the delegates who 
should be chosen by five towns 2 near Boston, or a majority 
of them, to call the Congress, in case of need, to meet at any 
other place and at an earlier date. The towns were urged 
so to instruct their delegates, and observance of such in- 
structions was recommended. Having thus provided for the 
creation of the body which was to succeed itself, and thank- 
ing John Hancock for his " constant attendance and faithful 
services as president," the first Provincial Congress of Massa- 
chusetts was, on December 10, 1774, by its own vote dis- 
solved. 

The second Provincial Congress convened, as planned, on 
February 1, 1775, and was dissolved May 29, 1775. The 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 73. 

2 Charlestown, Cambridge, Brookline, Roxbury, Dorchester, /did., 74. 



1 2 5 ] GO VERNMENT IN MASSA CHUSE TTS j 2 5 

period is commonly divided into four sessions, 1 virtually into 
three, and is marked by much important activity, the salient 
points of which have been indicated elsewhere in this work. 
The constitution of this body, it will be seen, was similar to 
that of its predecessors in that the conditions of the franchise 
were the same ; in each case the qualifications of members, 
and the decision thereon, rested entirely, at least in the later 
case, upon the decision of the unit of representation. 2 In 
each case the Congress was a gathering of town and district 
delegations 3 responsible to their constituencies and acting 
upon the authority of such. The organization of the second 
Congress was like that of the first. John Hancock was 
unanimously chosen president and Benjamin Lincoln was 
again appointed secretary. 4 Immediately, as in the preced- 
ing instance, a strong committee was appointed " to take into 

'At Cambridge, February i-February 16; at Concord, March 22- April 15; at 
Concord, April 22; at Watertown, April 22-May 29. Journal of the Provincial 
Congress, 75. 

'The local body was not in all points unrestricted. Thus, on February 6, 1775, 
there was presented a petition of Abijah Browne and others, "setting forth the 
irregularity of the choice of Jonas Dix, Esq., to represent the town of Waltham 
in this Congress," and a counter-petition of Leonard Williams and others. The 
Congress resolved "that in case the averments in Browne's petition mentioned 
were true, they are not sufficient to disqualify Jonas Dix, Esq., member from Wal- 
tham, from having a seat in this Congress." Ibid., 86. 

An illustration of the relations between the towns and Congress is shown in an 
unusual manner by the action of the Congress, 1775, when it was : "Resolved, 
That the inhabitants of the town of Northfield be desired, in consideration of the 
bodily indisposition of their present member, Mr. Ebenezer Jones, which prevents 
his attendance, to add one other member to him in order that their town may be 
represented in Congress, who are very desirous that the wisdom of the province 
may be collected at this critical juncture of our public affairs." Ibid., 129. 

3 The roll of the second Congress gives 195 towns and districts as represented 
by delegates, whether in every instance present or not. The 229 delegates are 
distributed among the counties, as follows: Middlesex, 42; Worcester, 40; 
Hampshire, 32; Suffolk, 28; Essex, 28; Plymouth, 15; Bristol, 12; Berkshire, 
10; York, 7; Lincoln, 6; Barnstable, 5; Cumberland, 4; Dukes, o; Nantucket, o. 

4 Ibid., 84. 



126 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ I2 6 

consideration the state and circumstances of the province." 1 
Early in the session was adopted an address to their "friends 
and fellow sufferers," the inhabitants of Massachusetts. By 
this the circumstances are stated to be such that " resistance 
is so far from being criminal, that it becomes the Christian 
and social duty of each individual." 2 Gratitude to the Al- 
mighty is enjoined " for his having placed you under such a 
form of government, as, when duly administered, gives the 
meanest peasant the same security in his life and property,, 
as his sovereign has in his crown." 3 The rights of property, 
the theory of representation, perversion of colonial adminis- 
tration, and imperial tyranny are touched upon. " Fleets^ 
troops, and every implement of war, are sent into the prov- 
ince, with apparent design to wrest from you that freedom 
which it is your duty, even at the risk of your lives, to hand 
inviolate to posterity." 4 The plans of the Continental and 
Provincial Congress were heartily endorsed. Emphasis was 
put upon the need of greater military efficiency and re- 
sources and upon the importance of an immediate improve- 
ment in the finances of the province. 5 The conduct of the 

1 This comprised Messrs. Hancock, Hawley, Cushing of Boston, Adams, James 
Warren, Paine, Pitts, Holten, Heath, Gerrish, Cushing of Scituate, Ward, and 
Gardner. On February 2, Messrs. Lee, Orne, Palmer, Gerry, Foster, and Bowers 
were added. Ibid., 84. On March 22, Messrs. Lothrop and Dexter were added. 
Journal of the Provincial Congress, 109. On April 7, Dr. Warren and Dr. Church 
were added. Ibid., 132. 

2 February 17, 1775, Gov. Gage wrote to Lord Dartmouth: "If this Provincial 
Congress is not to be deemed a rebellious meeting, surely some of their resolves 
are rebellious, though they affect not to order, but only to recommend measures 
to the people; . . . ." New York Journal, no. 1697, July 13, 1775. 

3 Ibid., 91. 4 Ibid., 92. 

5 E.g., the Shelburn committee, May I, 1775, wrote to the committee at North- 
ampton : " As to our Province Money The Town's Unanimously Agreed to pay it 
in to Henry Gardner Esqr of Stow but we are a New township and money being 
Scarce we have it not Collected and the money is not in the place to Collect but 
we would Directly Hire it if we knew where to Git it, and we will Do all we Can 
to Git it." Hawley Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. On May 10, 1775, in a 



! 2 7] G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA CH USE ITS j 2 7 

people was commended and a continuance of their steadfast- 
ness was shown to be essential to their escape from the 
" galling yoke of despotism . . ." And furthermore, since 
" subjects generally pay obedience to the laws of the land, 
to avoid the penalty that accrues on breach of them," the 
Congress expresses to its constituencies its assurance " that, 
as you hitherto have, you will continue still strictly to adhere 
to the resolutions of your several congresses; . . " z 

It was in the first session of this Congress that intercolonial 
relations were put on a more definite basis by the appoint- 
ment of an unusually able committee of nine "to correspond 
with the neighboring governments." 2 On the same day the 
Congress took a step which was deemed " highly and pe- 
culiarly proper" in appointing March 16 as a day of fasting 
and prayer, an opportunity which should be taken to beg 
God's "blessing upon the labors of the field, upon our 
merchandize, fishery and manufactures, and upon the various 
means used to recover and preserve our just rights and 
liberties;" and when there should be offered the further 
prayer "that his blessing may rest upon all the British Em- 
pire, upon George the Third, our rightful king, and upon all 
the royal family, . . ."3 The session was concluded on the 
same day by the appointment of Concord as the place, and 
March 22 as the date, of the next meeting, by the removal 
from the members of the injunction of secrecy, and by the 
cautionary authorization of the delegates of five towns to 
call the Congress at an earlier date, if necessary, although at 
no other than the appointed place. Conformity to such 

letter to Mr. Sedgwick, Joseph Hawley spoke of "ye Shocking backwardness 
of ye Towns to pay their Taxes . . . ." Ibid., II. Cf. Manchester Records, II., 
147, as to December, 1774. Cf. Jameson, Amherst Records, 67. Cf. Revolu- 
tionary Corresp., III., 515, Bancroft Collection. Cf. Boston Town Records 
XVIII., 222. 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 93. 

2 February 16, 1775; Ibid., 105, 106. 3 Ibid., 107. 



j 2 8 FR OM PR O VINCI AL TO COMMON WE A I TH [ j 2 8 

possible procedure was merely recommended by the Con- 
gress ; the emergency, however, did not arise. 

The second session of the second Provincial Congress be- 
gan at the appointed time, and at once a warning was issued 
against relaxation in the work of defence and military pre- 
paration. 1 Relatively little, however, was accomplished in 
the early days, so that on April I the attendance of members 
was enjoined and two days thereafter two committees were 
appointed, one to report a resolution to summon the mem- 
bers from the counties of Hampshire, Berkshire, Worcester, 
and Bristol, the other to report a resolution to be inserted in 
the Salem papers requiring the attendance of all the absent 
members, and " a recommendation to the several towns and 
districts, who have not yet sent members to the Provincial 
Congress, that they elect them, and direct their immediate 
attendance." 2 Within a week more than one hundred mem- 
bers were in attendance, so that it became possible to trans- 
act with a fairly representative body a reasonable amount of 
effective business. 3 On April 15, however, an adjournment 4 
was taken to May 10, and, as formerly, the delegates of the 
five towns near Boston were empowered, in case of need, to 
summon the members to Concord at an earlier day. 5 

The wisdom of the precaution was at this time made 
manifest. The apprehensions of an early crisis developed so 

1 Journal of the Provi?icial Congress, no. 2 Ibid., 117. 

3 In Frothingham, life of Joseph Warren, 445, is reprinted from the Salem 
Gazette, a resolution of April 3, 1775, not in the journal of the Congress, alluding 
to the absence of several members on leave and to the recent receipt of import- 
ant intelligence from England, and directing the prompt attendance of all mem- 
bers, " that so the wisdom of the province may be collected." 

4 Journal of 'the Provincial Congress, 146. 

5 The Boston Gazette, no. 1044, April 17, 1775, contained the following in large 
type: "The Provincial Congress adjourn'd last Saturday Afternoon, to the 10th 
Day of May next; but if necessary, to meet earlier. And we have it from un- 
doubted Authority, that a perfect Unanimity prevail'd in all the important Meas- 
ures and Deliberations which came before them." 



129] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CH USE TTS 1 2 9 

quickly and so acutely, immediately after the adjournment, 
that on April 18 1 a meeting was held of members of the five 
delegations and by their authority a call, signed by Richard 
Devens of Charlestown, was sent to the members of the Con- 
gress, insisting upon the necessity of a meeting, and request- 
ing their immediate attendance at Concord, "as the closest 
deliberation, and the collected wisdom of the people, at this 
alarming crisis, are indispensably necessary for the salvation 
of the country." 2 Accordingly, sessions were suddenly re- 
sumed on April 22, when after a short morning meeting at 
Concord, under Richard Devens, as chairman, the Congress 
adjourned to Watertown, where it took up its labors on the 
afternoon of the same day. On the next day, Sunday, Dr. 
Joseph Warren was elected president, pro tern.? proceedings 
were pushed with vigor and thoroughness under the impetus 
of the affair at Lexington, and one week after that event 
there were adopted a letter to Benjamin Franklin, their 

'On April 16, 1775, Gov. Gage wrote to Gov. Martin, of South Carolina: 
" This Province has some time been and now is in the new fangled legislature 
termed a Provincial Congress, who seem to have taken the Government into their 
hands. What they intend to do I cannot pretend to say, but they are much 
puzzled how to act. Fear in some, and want of inclination in others, will be a 
great bar to their coming to extremities, . . . ." "Journals of the Provincial 
Congress of Ne%v York, I., 57. 

2 /did, 147. 

3 Ibid., 149; on April 24, Rev. Mr. Murray was "appointed" president pro 
tern. Ibid., 150. On May 2, Mr. Murray being absent, it was resolved, "That 
another president be chosen pro tempore, and that he be chosen by nomination." 
Col. James Warren was chosen, and a committee sent to notify him; he attended 
and offered reasons for an excuse, which were accepted. The peculiar process 
then adopted was the passage of a motion to appoint a committee " to wait on 
Doct. Joseph Warren, informing him of the absence of the Rev. Mr. Murray, who 
has lately officiated as president of this Congress, and to know of Doct. Warren 
if he can now attend the Congress in that station." Warren began his duties in 
this position on the afternoon of the same day. Ibid., 178. 

" The congress of our colonv could not observe so much virtue and greatness 
without honoring it with the greatest mark in their favor; . . . ." Oration by 
Perez Morton, on Joseph Warren, April 8, 1776. Niles, Principles and Acts, 61. 



130 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [^30 

agent at London, and an address to the people of Great 
Britain. The former enclosed, for publication and distribu- 
tion, several papers, relative to the event of April 19. The 
letter itself bore an allusion to " both Englands," to which 
was the sequel " that whatever price our brethren in the one, 
may be pleased to put on their constitutional liberties, we 
are authorized to assure you, that the inhabitants of the 
other, with the greatest unanimity, are inflexibly resolved 
to sell theirs only at the price of their lives." 1 The address 
to the English was largely an account of the conflict on 
April 19, and of those acts which they termed the " marks 
of ministerial vengeance againt this colony, for refusing, with 
her sister colonies, submission to slavery;" and even these, 
they affirmed, had not yet detached them from their king. 
The appeal to sentiment was followed, in conclusion, by the 
expression of the hope that, "in a constitutional connection 
with the mother country, we shall be altogether a free and 
happy people." 2 

The session under review effected an advance in the pro- 
cedure of the Congress by the adoption of a series of ten 
rules governing the conduct of the meetings. Six were 
chiefly rules of the floor. Of the others, one rule provided 
that no person should nominate more than one person for a 
committee, provided the person so nominated be chosen; 
another, that no member should be obliged to serve upon 
more than two committees at a time, or to be chairman of 
more than one committee ; and still a further rule was that no 
vote should be reconsidered when there were fewer in Con- 
gress than when it was passed. A most important rule was 
that no grant " for money or other thing shall be made, un- 
less there be a time before assigned for that purpose." 3 The 
Congress thus was slow in perfecting even its temporary or- 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 154. 

2 Ibid., 156. "Ibid., 164. 



! 3 i ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS j 3 r 

ganization ; it was equally tardy in placing the province in a 
position of security or, at least, of defence. The situation, as 
well as the spirit of the leaders, was shown in a letter of 
April 28, 1775, from the Congress to Governor Hopkins, of 
Rhode Island. " We beg leave," they say, " to suggest to 
you the critical situation of this colony at the present time, 
which disables this Congress Jrom immediately seizing every 
crown officer in the government. Boston is closed, . . . 
Several of our seaports are blockaded with ships, and threat- 
ened destruction if they join the army. . . . Should we, 
therefore, seize the crown officers as proposed, it may hurl 
on our numerous sea ports sudden destruction, before they 
have had opportunity of saving themselves." 1 

Amid such distress and uncertainty the Congress prepared 
for its own dissolution. The date of that had, in the act 
creating the Congress, been fixed as not later than May 30. 
As "the exigencies of our public affairs render it absolutely 
necessary, for the safety of this colony, that a new Congress 
be elected," it was resolved, on May 5, that the towns and 
districts should elect delegates to meet in Provincial Congress, 
at Watertown on May 31. The size of delegations was left,. 
as before, indeterminate ; the franchise again was based on; 
the provincial law ; and the duration of the approaching 
Congress was limited to six months. 2 The second Congress 
was dissolved May 29.3 Two days thereafter began the 
sessions of the third Provincial Congress, 4 a body in all re- 

1 journal of the Provincial Congress, 166. 2 Ibid., 195, 196. 

3 The records of the last eight days of this session are not extant. Cf. ibid., 248. 

4 The size of this body and distribution by counties was as follows : Worcester, 

38 towns, 39 delegates; Hampshire, 33 towns, 40 delegates; Middlesex, 23 towns, 

39 delegates; Essex, 20 towns, 30 delegates; Suffolk, 18 towns, 27 delegates; 
Plymouth, 13 towns, 17 delegates; Bristol, 12 towns, 17 delegates; Berkshire, 11 
towns, 10 delegates; Barnstable, 9 towns, 11 delegates; York, 5 towns, 5 dele- 
gates; Cumberland, 5 towns, 4 delegates; Lincoln, 5 towns, 4 delegates; Dukes, 
2 towns, 2 delegates; Nantucket, no representation. Total of 204 towns repre- 
sented by 245 delegates. Ibid., 273-279. 



132 FR OM PR O VINC1AL TO COMMONWEAL TH [ l 3 2 

spects similar to its predecessors. 1 The officials of the 
second Congress also served this, Joseph Warren, until his 
death, as president, 2 and Samuel Freeman as secretary. 3 By 
this body the affairs of the province were administered until 
July 19, 1775, a brief period in which important constitu- 
tional and military changes were effected, each of which can 
best be indicated in connection with the series of antecedent 
events. It will serve the purpose to notice first the position 
of the Congress with reference to military affairs, and, after a 
review of some of the more important lines of its activity, to 
consider the steps by which, the Provincial Congress was 
superseded by a General Court elected in accordance with the 
charter of 1691, and with the last provincial election law. 

§ 2. Military Affairs 

Much of the time of the Provincial Congress was devoted 
to military organization in anticipation of a coming struggle. 
Thus, even on October 19, a committee of five, including 
Captain Heath, was appointed " to make as minute an in- 
quiry into the present state and operation of the army as 
may be," 4 and their report on the next day was immediately 

1 We find here another instance of the control of the Congress over elections. 
Upon the basis of a committee report the Congress, " upon examination, judge 
that the persons returned as delegates for Eastham, in the county of Barnstable, 
were not legally chosen, and that the allowing either of them a seat in this house 
would be attended with many inconveniences," and therefore pass specihcally for 
Eastham the resolve for the election of delegates originally sent out by the second 
Provincial Congress. Journal of the Provincial Congress, 289. 

2 On June 19, 1775, James Warren was chosen president. Journal of the Pro- 
vincial Congress, 357. James Warren, for his services as president of the Pro- 
vincial Congress, received a vote of thanks from the house of representatives, 
October 3, 1775. Journal of the House of Representatives. 

3 February 9, 1776, the house of representatives voted £2 8 sh. for the ser- 
vices of Samuel Freeman as secretary of the Provincial Congress, July 7-19, 1775, 
" in full," and ^25 for recording the " doings." Journal of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 

4 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 22. 



133] G ° v E R NMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS ! 3 ^ 

followed by the appointment of a committee of thirteen, two 
from Suffolk and one from each of the other counties, to 
consider the steps necessary for the defence and safety of the 
province. 1 After four preliminary reports, the work of the 
committee was accepted at the second session, on October 
26. The resolutions summarized the relations of the people 
with the royal government, the acts and the attitude of the 
latter, the results of the various episodes, and the present 
status. They asserted a desire for peace but admitted that 
there was reason to be " apprehensive of the most fatal con- 
sequences," against which they desired that they might be 
in some degree prepared. The report included the estab- 
lishment of a Committee of Safety for the purpose of increas- 
ing the military efficiency of the population, and included as 
well provision for the election of commanding officers by the 
Congress and of subordinates by the field officers and by the 
companies, for the formation of a complete militia system, and 
for the instruction and equipment of the people. On the same 
day a committee was appointed whose report, which was ac- 
cepted on October 29, turned against the king one of his 
own weapons. It was now " recommended to the inhabitants 
of this province, that in order to their perfecting themselves 
in the military art, they proceed in the method ordered by 
his majesty in the year 1764, it being, in the opinion of this 
Congress, best calculated for appearance and defence." 2 

A definite beginning was thus effected. Little of striking 
importance could be done, and yet the quiet training of the 
men to military service and the gradual supply of the whole 
province with sufficient arms and adequate ammunition was 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 23. Samuel Dexter and Capt. Heath 
represented Suffolk Co., Major Hawley Hampshire Co., and Col. Ward Worcester 
Co. The members were named by the delegates from each county respectively. 
On October 24 the Congress added Mr. Gerry and three others to this committee. 
Ibid., 29. 

2 Ibid., 41. 



134 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [^34 

work which in its results was to be of vital importance. The 
renewal, by the second Provincial Congress, 1 of the powers of 
the Committee of Safety was accompanied by the reappoint- 
ment of " Prebble," Ward, and Pomeroy, and the appoint- 
ment of John Thomas and William Heath, 2 as general 
officers ; and their business was stated to be the opposition 
to the execution by force of two of the recent acts of parlia- 
ment. While the Congress took an active control of military 
affairs, much of the routine work was relegated to the Com- 
mittee of Safety. The larger body, however, acted through- 
out with full knowledge and realization of the situation ; and 
this was made possible by such acts as that of March 22, 
1775, when a committee was appointed "to receive the re- 
turns of the several officers of militia, of their numbers and 
equipments, and the returns from the several towns of their 
town stock of ammunition. "3 The Congress aimed at a col- 
lection and more effective distribution of the available arms 
and ammunition. It further could use its superior position 
to appeal successfully to the population of the entire prov- 
ince for early activity against a common enemy. It finally 
urged that the preliminary plans of defence " be still most 
vigorously pursued, by the several towns, as well as indi- 
vidual inhabitants, and that any relaxation would be attended 
with the utmost danger to the liberties of this colony and of 
all America;" 4 and the unpretentious efforts of the first 
months were in large measure completed when, on April 5, 
1775, there were adopted for the control of the "Massa- 
chusetts army" the fifty-three " articles of war." 5 

1 February 9, 1775. 

2 On February 15, 1775, John Whitcomb was elected an additional general 
officer. 

3 Journal of 'the Provincial Congress, 109. * March 24, 1775, Ibid., no. 
5 Ibid., 120-129. Cm May 5, 1775, it was " Resolved, That the assembly of 

Connecticut be supplied with the rules and regulations which have been recom- 
mended to be observed by the army now raising in this colony." Ibid., 196. 



135] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS j 3 5 

The resolves introductory to this code state that " the lust 
of power, which of old oppressed, persecuted, and exiled our 
pious and virtuous ancestors from their possessions in 
Britain, now pursues with tenfold severity us, their guiltless 
children," who now "have reason to apprehend, that the 
sudden destruction of this province is in contemplation, if 
not determined upon;" and now "the great law of Self-pre- 
servation" requires an " army of observation and defence " 
to prevent the execution by force of the acts of parliament. 
From the requirements that all " officers and soldiers, not 
having just impediment, shall diligently frequent divine ser- 
vice and sermon," and that " members of a court martial are 
to behave with calmness, decency and impartiality;" down 
to the details of ordinary army life, the articles comprise a 
varied but useful code of military administration. Apart 
from its particular provisions, it was significant as indicating 
an important advance in the organization of the province 
and as emphasizing the control of the Congress over that 
branch of service which at the time was by far the most 
important. Such a basis could give much more meaning 
to appeals of the kind sent out by the Congress to the 
committees of correspondence in Boston and eleven neigh- 
boring towns, on April 7, 1775, when they were urged to 
exert themselves " that the militia and minute men of your 
counties be found in the best posture of defence, whenever 
any exigence may require their aid;" yet the Congress did 
not recommend any measures that their enemies might 
plausibly interpret as a commencement of hostilities. 1 

On the following day an important step was taken ; a 
report by the committee on the state of the province was 
followed by the adoption, by a vote of 96 in a house of 103, 
of a resolution that "the present dangerous and alarming 
situation of our public affairs, renders it necessary for this 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 134. 



136 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [^36 

colony to make preparations for their security and defence, 
by raising and establishing an army, . . ." x 

Delegations were at once appointed to visit Connecticut, 
Rhode Island and New Hampshire to secure their concur- 
rence ; and one week later the Congress adjourned to May 
10. Such recess, however, was interrupted by the events of 
April 19. Three days thereafter the Congress re-assembled 
at Concord ; in the afternoon of the same day they met at 
Watertown and requested the attendance of the Committee 
of Safety with whatever plans they might have. 2 On the 
succeeding day, Sunday, April 23, it was unanimously re- 
solved that an army of 30,000 men should be immediately 
raised, and that 13,600 men should be the quota of Massa- 
chusetts. 3 The Committee of Safety, in co-operation with 
Messrs. Cushing, Sullivan, Whitcomb and Durant, were in- 
structed " to bring in a plan for the establishment of the offi- 
cers and soldiers necessary for the army," and to sit imme- 
diately. This step was communicated to the three adjoining 
provinces, and a letter was sent by express to each colonel 
in the army. More rapidly than had been anticipated the 
war footing was approached. 4 

" Hostilities are at length commenced in this colony," said 
the Congress in the address of April 26, to the inhabitants of 
Great Britain. Two days later, in a letter to delegates of 
New Hampshire, the Congress expresses the opinion " that 
a powerful army on our side, must, at once, cut out such a 
work for a tyrannical administration, as, under the great 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 135. 2 Ibid., 147. 

3 Ibid., 148. On April 24 it was resolved to distribute 300 hand-bills containing 
the resolves for the establishment of an army. Ibid., 150. 

4 On April 24 a committee of one from each county was appointed to attend 
the committee of salety " and let them know the names of the officers in said 
counties belonging to the minnte men, and such as are most suitable for officers 
in the army now raising." Ibid., 150. On April 25 it was voted to reduce each 
company from 100 to 59 men, ten companies making one regiment. Ibid., 152. 



1 37] GOVERNMENT IN MASSA CHUSETTS j 3 7 

opposition which they meet with in England, they cannot 
accomplish ;" x while, on the other hand, they could say that 
the "sanguinary zeal of the ministerial army, to ruin and 
destroy the inhabitants of this colony, in the opinion of this 
Congress hath rendered the establishment of an army indis- 
pensably necessary." 2 Toward the success of the movement 
further typical action was that of May 8, when certain men 
were appointed to collect the province arms in Hampshire 
and Berkshire counties, 3 and when a committee was ap- 
pointed to report a resolve recommending the saving of 
straw for the use of the army. 4 On the same day it was 
recommended to the local committees of correspondence, or, 
in lack of such, to the selectmen, to inquire into the princi- 
ples and conduct of all suspected persons, and cause to be 
disarmed all who would not give trustworthy assurances, 
"of their readiness to join their countrymen, on all occa- 
sions, in defence of the rights and liberties of America;" 5 
the local and internal elements of hostility to the new pro- 
gram of action were thus at once to be partially removed, and 
the chances of failure considerably decreased. 

By a long series of acts with a variety of provisions the 
Congress took its position as the responsible head of the 
military force of the province. By it officers were commis- 
sioned, enlistments authorized, and regulations established. 
By it, as well, the building of various fortifications was or- 
dered, the distribution of supplies regulated, and a super- 
vision exercised over even the smallest details of military 
equipment and procedure. Such a position was for a body of 
this kind natural and perfectly simple, and a recapitulation of 
votes and reports would only introduce much detail of slight 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 162. 

2 Letter from the Mass. Provincial Congress to the Continental Congress, May 
3, 1775. Ibid., 188. 

s Ibid, 204. * Ibid., 206; Cf.Ittd., 211. b Ibid., 205. 



138 FROM PRO VINCIAL TO COMMON WEAL TH [ Y 3 8 

significance and serve chiefly to emphasize the importance 
of the military situation at the time. For a consideration of 
the constitutional transition discussion of the military prob- 
lem is hardly essential, even though at times fully one half 
of the proceedings of the Congress related to affairs of de- 
fence. The mere statement of such activity and the indica- 
tion of the headship acquired by the body in these matters 
may suffice to define the nature and extent of one of the 
several forms of power exercised by the Provincial Congress. 
While thus controlling completely this branch of the provin- 
cial service, the Congress took a step of significance when, 
on May 15, 1775, it voted that the committee having in 
preparation an application to the Continental Congress 
should " be directed to insert a clause therein, desiring that 
the said congress would take some measures for directing 
and regulating the American forces." x By such beginnings 
was undertaken the incorporation of provincial " armies" 
into a military force under the charge of the Continental 
Congress. Along another and a vitally important line of 
action, the forces of the new nation were being truly nation- 
alized ; the functions of a new state were being acquired 
gradually by those whom the Philadelphia Congress repre- 
sented, and in the process the powers of the provincial gov- 
ernment were subjected, willingly it might be, to essential 
limitations. This change was of importance primarily from 
a military point of view, but its effect upon the national state 
then in process of formation is not to be under-estimated. 
With reference, however, to Massachusetts the change in- 
dicated was made clear and its importance plain by the 
appearance in the province of the newly appointed head of 
the " continental" army, and by his assumption of full charge 
of the forces operating against the royal troops. Thereafter 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 224. 



139] G ° VERNMEN T IN MASS A CH USE TTS I 3 9 

the work of the Provincial Congress, and of the subsequent 
General Courts, was directed to the formation, equipment, 
and subordinate regulation of its quota in the new army; its 
position as the head of an independent military state disap- 
peared virtually in its willing and expedient surrender of 
authority to the power above. 

§ 3. The Committee of Safety 

Provision was made for the transaction of a part of the 
administrative business devolving on the Congress, by the 
appointment of a Committee of Safety 1 whose term of office, 
significantly, was to continue " until the further order of this 
or some other congress or house of representatives of the 
province;" and whose duty, in the official words, it was 
" most carefully and diligently to inspect and observe all and 
every such person and persons, as shall, at any time, attempt 
or enterprise the destruction, invasion, detriment or annoy- 
ance of this province, . . ." In their hands was placed, 
then, the protection of the property and the maintenance of 
the security of the commonwealth, as well as the charge of 
the supplies for defence and the direction of those members 
of the commonwealth who chose to enter the military service 
of the Congress. And from the recognition either of the in- 
completeness of their own authority or of the urgency of the 
situation, it was deemed proper that the Congress should 
" most earnestly recommend to all the officers and soldiers 
of the militia in this province, who shall, from time to time, 
during the commission of the said committee, receive any 
call or order from the said committee, to pay the strictest 

1 It consisted of nine members, three from Boston, and six "gentlemen of the 
country." The Boston members were Hancock, Dr. Warren, and Dr. Church. 
Among the others were Norton Quincy and Devens. October 27, 1774. 
Journal of the Provincial Congress, 35. On October 29, Mr. Pigeon and Capt. 
Heath were added to this committee. Ibid., 48. 



140 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ I4 q 

obedience thereto, as they regard the liberties and lives of 
themselves and the people of this province." x 

Such a body was also created by the second Provincial 
Congress, 2 February 9, 1775, with powers practically the 
same as those of the earlier committee, 3 although increased 
by the provision that it was their duty " most carefully and 
diligently to inspect and observe all and every such person 
and persons as shall at any time attempt to carry into exe- 
cution by force," either the "regulating act" or the act for 
the impartial administration of justice in Massachusetts. 
Some weeks later, on May 3, a committee of five, including 
Col. Warren, was appointed " to overlook the commission of 
the committee of safety, and ... to see whether it be ne- 
cessary that they be invested with other powers than they 
now have." 4 On May 17, 5 this committee was directed to 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 32. Five was established as a quorum of 
the committee; of the five only one should be an inhabitant of Boston. 

2 Of eleven members, Jabez Fisher was in the place of Norton Quincy; other- 
wise the committees of the two congresses were identical. Ibid., 89. Quincy 
had offered his resignation on February 7, and Fisher had been elected February 
8. The committee of safety, as such, was recognized as continuing in existence 
after the dissolution of one congress and until after, as well, the organization of 
another congress; it seemed essential, however, that each newly elected congress 
should sanction the smaller executive body by stating and confirming its powers. 
As to Quincy, cf. John Adams, Familiar Letters, 179, 184. 

3 April 23, 1775, Messrs. Sullivan, Whitcomb, Durant, and Col. Cushing were 
added to the committee of safety. Journal of the Provincial Congress, 148. 

* Ibid., 185. On May 12, Mr. Sullivan was put on the committee in the place of 
Dr. Holden, absent. Ibid., 218. On May 17 Mr. Sullivan was excused from serv- 
ing, and Col. Foster and Deacon Fisher were added to the committee. Ibid., 235. 

5 It was on this day also that the Committee of Safety appointed Dr. Church 
and two others to request of the Provincial Congress "that forthwith the duty of 
the committee of safety be precisely stated, and that said committee be empow- 
ered by Congress to conduct in such manner as shall tend to the advantage of the 
colony; and to justify the conduct of said committee, so far as their proceedings 
are correspondent wirh the trust imposed in them; and to inform the Congress 
that until the path of their duty is clearly pointed out, they must be at a total loss 
how to conduct, so as to stand justified in their own minds, and in the minds of 
the people of this colony." Ibid., 550, 551. 



1 4 1 j G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA CII USE TTS j 4 l 

report promptly; 1 and on the succeeding day the Congress 
balloted for a new Committee of Safety of thirteen members. 2 
On May 19 this choice was incorporated in the revised form 
of commission and the whole thus sanctioned by the formal 
action of the Congress. 

The newly stated powers of the committee included the 
authority to issue commissions to the officers of regiments 
that might be completed in the approaching interim between 
two Congresses ; they included also the authority to summon 
and direct the militia and, further, to control " the army of 
this colony," " provided always, that it shall be in the 
power of this, or any future congress, to control any order 
of the said committee of safety, respecting this or any other 
matter." 3 Thus they aimed, in view of the " particular ex- 
igencies of the colony," to make the committee's commission 
" as concise and explicit as possible . . ." The men now 
appointed 4 were to serve "until some further order of this, 
or some future congress or house of representatives of this 
colony shall revoke their, or either of their appointments." 

1 On May 9, 1775 the Committee of Safety voted that, " as the circumstances of 
this colony are very different from what they were at their first appointment, the 
committee would represent to the Congress, that they apprehend it is necessary, 
that the whole of their duty may be comprised in a new commission." Jour- 
nal of tke Provincial Congress, 539, 540. 

2 Of these, 9 had been among the 11 elected, February 9, 1775. The two 
others then chosen, Messrs. Wm. Heath and Jabez Fisher, and the four added, 
April 23, 1775, Messrs. Sullivan, Durant, Col. Cushmg and Col. Whitcomb do not 
appear on the present list. The four new names are those of Benj. Greenleaf, 
Nathan Cushing, Samuel Holten, and Enoch Freeman. Ibid., 89, 148, 238. 

3 Ibid., 240-242. The preamble of these instructions gives a list of sixteen men 
who had thitherto, for longer or shorter periods, been members of the committee of 
safety. The quorum was again fixed at five. 

4 It was on June 6, during the service of these men, that the Congress called 
Eenjamin Edwards to the bar of the house to explain his use of the following 
language : " By God, if this province is to be governed in this manner, it is time 
for us to look out, and 'tis all owing to the committee of safety, a pack of sappy- 
head-fellows. I know three of them myself." Ibid., 301. 



142 FROM PRO V1NCIAL TO COMMON WEAL TH [ 1 42 

Between the second and third Congresses there was slight, 
interval of time and little change of personnel, so that the 
committee had no dangerous interim to face, although it had 
regularly to contend with a thoroughly trying condition of 
affairs, extending over crises both in the contest of arms and 
in the internal development. The powers given this com- 
mittee on May 18 were, on July 13, declared null, when a 
committee of five, 1 appointed "to revise and explain the- 
commission of the committee of safety" made its report* 
This was immediately accepted, and included the re-appoint- 
ment of the eleven committeemen chosen in May. 2 These 
men now were given full power, at any time during the re- 
cess of the Congress, to call together " in the shortest and 
most effectual manner," if they should judge it necessary, a 
quorum of at least forty members of the Congress. The 
committee were empowered to appoint the place of meeting, 
and were " strictly enjoined to notify such members as may 
be most expeditiously assembled." They were further given 
the power, " until the thirtieth day of July instant, or until 
their commission shall be abrogated by the representative 
body of the inhabitants of this colony," to summon the 
militia, either upon the application of the ranking officer in 
Massachusetts of the continental army, or upon their own 
judgment that the safety of lives and property required such 
a step. For a similar period they were empowered to em- 
ploy and supervise armorers and other artificers sufficient for 

1 Appointed on the morning of July 13, they reported in the afternoon of the 
same day. Two days earlier a committee of three had been appointed " to en- 
large the commission of the committee of safety." Journal of the Provincial 
Congress, 498, 490. 

2 Of the lists of committeemen accepted October 27, 1774, February 9, 1775, 
May 18, 1775, and July 13, 1775, each of the four had included the following 
seven names: Hon. John Hancock, Dr. Benj. Church, Col. Azor Orne, Mr. 
Richard Devens, Col. Joseph Palmer, Capt. Benj. White, and Mr. Abraham 
Watson. It should be stated that Dr. Jos. Warren was a member of the com- 
mittee until his death. 



1 43 1 G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS I 43 

the Massachusetts quota of the continental army. They were 
authorized to execute all commissions and services to which, 
during the current session, they had been appointed and 
which remained uncompleted. To them was entrusted the 
care of the poor from Boston and Charlestown. The quo- 
rum was retained at five. Finally, for the period already 
stated, they were given the inclusive power "to receive, ex- 
amine, and discharge, or cause to be confined, according to 
their wisdom, any person or persons taken captive, that may 
properly come under the cognizance of the representative 
body of this people, and to receive, and duly secure, any 
interests, or effects, the conduct whereof is not already pro- 
vided for, that shall be at the disposal of this colony." With 
such powers 1 the Committee of Safety entered the last period 
of its existence, this final fortnight of its work embracing the 
closing week of the Provincial Congress and the opening of 
the new General Court, a fortnight, however, of the proceed- 
ings during which even scant records are lacking. 

From November, 1774, to July, 1775, this body served as 
an effective representative of the Congress in the exercise of 
functions of a most important type. 2 To it was relegated a 
large portion of the routine and detail connected with the 
maintenance and supervision of a military force. The initia- 
tion of steps of belligerency and of internal organization 
preparatory thereto rested with the Congress ; the direction 
of many such movements, however, devolved upon the 
smaller body. By it, as well, was supervised the activity 
incident to the completion of such processes ; for such su- 
pervision it remained in service and held meetings both dur- 
ing the sessions of the Congress and in the intermediate 
periods ; and it attained greater working efficiency through 
the arrangement by which its meetings often partook of the 

1 This commission is in Journal of the Provincial Congress, 498, 499. 

2 The journals of this body are printed in ibid., 505-597. ■ 



1 44 PR OM PR O VINCI AL TO COMMONWEAL TH [ \ 44 

nature of a joint conference of members of the Committee of 
Safety and members of such committees as that of supplies. 1 
Much of the committee's energy necessarily was devoted to 
procuring and properly distributing the military and other 
supplies of the province. Pork and pick-axes, bell-tents and 
shells, medicine, mortars, and powder received indiscrimi- 
nately the minute attention of the committee. The equip- 
ment of an army was no slight task ; and the accomplish- 
ment of that alone would suffice to prove that this body was 
an important factor in the transition, although in itself not 
connected with the constitutional development. 

It is unnecessary to offer more than a characterization of 
the greater part of the committee's work. That its activity, 
however, was not wholly of a subordinate nature is made 
plain even by a few of its acts relative to the military situa- 
tion. Thus, on February 23, 1775, Dr. Church, Mr. Gerry 
and John Pigeon, were appointed " to draft a letter to the 
commanding officers of the militia, and the commanding 
officers of the minute men ... to assemble one fourth 
part of the militia through the province on the receipt 
of this letter." 2 Further typical action is seen during 
the month of April. Then it was ordered that the supply of 
cannon powder at Leicester be removed, ' one load at a 
time,' to Concord, and there 'made into cartridges, under 
the direction of the committee of supplies.' 3 Soon thereafter 
the transportation of four six-pounders to Groton and of 
two brass mortars to Acton was ordered. 4 On April 18 the 

1 Cf. Journal of the Provincial Congress, 505, 506, 507, et sea. Cf. ibid., 515 : 
" Voted, That when these committees adjourn, it be . . . ." 

2 Ibid., 5 10. It was directed that one hundred copies of such a letter should be 
printed, as well as two hundred copies of the resolve of Congress granting the 
committee power to assemble the militia. 

3 Ibid., 514. This is entered as of Saturday, April 14; it would seem, however, 
that Saturday was April 15. 4 April 17. Ibid., 515. 



1 45 ] GOVERNMENT IN MASS A CRUSE TTS j 45 

work of the two committees was especially characteristic and 
significant, for on that day, meeting at Menotomy instead of 
at Concord as immediately before, they appointed nine towns 1 
in which all the ammunition of the province should be de- 
posited, and named six towns 2 which should each be the sta- 
tion of an ammunition cart and of a company of matrosses. 
The action of the fourteenth relative to the transfer of powder 
was reconsidered ; the removal from Concord of a portion 
of the provisions there, including flour, beef, rice, molasses, 
rum, and candles was directed ; and it was also determined 
that a considerable supply of larger ammunition should be 
transferred from Stoughtonham to Sudbury. The distribution 
of supplies in anticipation of a contest on the field consisted 
chiefly in a removal to places of greater security of the larger 
portion of the materials at Concord. 3 The redistribution of 
supplies extended to shovels and canteens, as well as to 
cannon, tents, 4 and medicine chests. 5 Finally, it was voted 
" that the musket balls under the care of Col. Barrett, be 
buried under ground, in some safe place, that he be desired 

1 Worcester, Lancaster, Concord, Groton, Stoughtonham, Stow, Mendon, 
Leicester, and Sudbury. Ibid., 516. 

2 Worcester, Concord, Stoughtonham, Stougbton, Stow, and Lancaster. Ibid. 
It was also voted that Worcester, Concord, Stow and Lancaster should each be 
provided with two three-pound cannon. Ibid., 517. 

3 Thus it was ordered that of the spades, pick-axes, bill-hooks, shovels, axes, 
hatchets, crows, and wheelbarrows at Concord, one-third should be left at Con- 
cord, one-third placed at Sudbury, and one-third at Stow. Further, of two 
thousand iron pots, two thousand wooden bowls, and fifteen thousand canteens, 
one-half of each should be placed at Worcester, one-fourth at Concord, and one- 
fourth at Sudbury. Ibid., 517. 

4 It was ordered that eleven hundred tents be equally distributed among the 
towns of Worcester, Lancaster, Groton, Stow, Mendon, Leicester, and Sudbury. 
Ibid., 518. 

5 Of the medicine chests it was ordered that two each should be placed in Con- 
cord, Groton, Mendon, Stow, Worcester, and Lancaster, and three in Sudbury, 
the cases in each instance being kept in different parts of the town. Ibid., 517. 
Cf. Shattuck, History of Concord, 97-99. 



I46 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH \\4f> 

to do it, and to let the commissary only be informed there- 
of." 1 The weights and measures were committed to the 
keeping of the commissary, and the papers belonging to the 
two committees were " lodged with Mr. Abraham Watson." 
Thus was careful preparation made for the event of the nine- 
teenth of April. 

By that event the situation was materially changed. 
Such change, in the view of the committee, " made it 
absolutely necessary, that we immediately raise an army 
to defend our wives and children from the butchering 
hands of an inhuman soldiery," who were eager " to 
ravage this devoted country with fire and sword." Thus 
they addressed the several towns in a circular letter ; and 
therein they continued: "We conjure you, therefore, by all 
that is sacred, that you give assistance in forming an army. 
Our all is at stake. Death and devastation are the certain 
consequences of delay. . . . We beg and entreat, as you 
will answer to your country, to your own consciences, and 
above all, as you will answer to God himself, that you will 
hasten and encourage by all possible means, the enlistment 
of men to form the army, and send them forward to head 
quarters at Cambridge, with that expedition, which the vast 
importance and instant urgency of the affair demands." 2 On 
the day thereafter, April 21, they passed a resolution for the 
immediate enlistment from the Massachusetts forces, of 
eight thousand effective men to serve for seven months, " un- 
less the safety of the province will admit of their being dis- 
charged sooner; . . ." 3 Thereafter, the more obvious his- 
tory of the Revolution was the military history, and through- 
out this the presence of the Committee of Safety was seen. 
Thus a fortnight later, 4 when news was received that British 
transports from England had just arrived at Boston, a com- 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 517. - Ibid., 518. 

3 Ibid., 520. *May 4, 1775; Ibid., 538. 



! 4 7] G O VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 1 47 

mittee of three was appointed to confer with the council of 
war. Five days later the council of war having determined 
that an addition of two thousand to the army at Roxbury 
was necessary, " and that, if possible, the reenforcement be 
brought into camp the ensuing night;" the Committee of 
Safety ordered the commanding officers in ten towns 1 that 
they should " immediately muster one-half of the militia, and 
all the minute men under their command, and march them 
forthwith to the town of Roxbury, for the strengthening of 
the camp there." 2 Over the provincial army, thus, they ex- 
ercised a control that extended even to the establishment of 
the soldier's rations, 3 a control which, however important in 
itself for the time being, was soon to be radically modified, 
as elsewhere suggested, by the rearrangements through which 
to a large extent the military functions of the Provincial 
Congress were abrogated. 

§ 4. Economic Affairs 

The Provincial Congress naturally strove to secure within 
Massachusetts a strict and uniform observance of the conti- 
nental " association." Locally, thus, it took the lead in the 
commercial warfare ; but it went still farther and directed the 
general conduct to such an end that the colonists might for 
the future have commercial independence of the mother 
country, whatever might be their political relations. The 

1 Dorchester, Dedham, Newton, Watertown, Waltham, Roxbury, Milton, Brain- 
tree, Brookline, and Needham. Journal of the Provincial Congress, 540. 

2 Ibid., 540. 

3 Thus, June 15, 1775, it was voted to allow each man in the Massachusetts 
army daily : one pound of bread; one pint of milk or one gill of rice; one quart 
of "good spruce or malt beer;" one gill of peas or beans, "or other sauce 
equivalent;" and a stated amount of beef and pork, or of beef alone, with a 
weekly allowance of fish. There was also a weekly allowance of a half pint of 
vinegar "if it can be had," and of six ounces of "good butter" to each man, as 
well as " one pound of good common soap for six men per week." Ibid., 568. 



I4 8 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [j^g 

men of the Congress began early to lay deep the foundations 
of future welfare. They could not neglect the economics of 
the situation, but appointed two committees whose work was 
significant. The one was to make " as just an estimate as 
may be of the loss and damage of every kind" that came 
" to the province by the operation of the Boston port bill 
and the act for altering the civil government, from their com- 
mencement to this time." 1 The other was directed "to 
state the amount of the sums which have been extorted from 
us since the year 1763, by the operation of certain acts of 
the British parliament." 2 On the day preceding this action 
a committee of seven was appointed " to take into considera- 
tion the state of the manufactures, and how they may be 
improved in this province." 3 Certain elements of economic 
weakness they thus perceived and it was their purpose to 
avoid as far as possible the greater injuries incident to the 
commercial contest already begun, and to the contest of 
arms then becoming increasingly probable. A further pre- 
liminary step was the effort to ascertain the resources of the 
province through a plan formed by the Adamses and 
Colonel Danielson. On the same day 4 one man from each 
county and one from each maritime town were appointed 
whose duty it was "to prepare from the best authentic evi- 
dence which can be procured, a true state of the number of 
the inhabitants, and of the quantities of exports and imports 
of goods, wares, and merchandize, and of manufactures of all 
kinds, within the colony, . . ." 5 While primarily for the in- 
formation of the Continental Congress, the mere collection of 
such information must have afforded practical assistance and 
incentive to those who were directing the legislation of the 
Provincial Congress. 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 52. This Committee made a report, Feb- 
ruary 10, 1775; " the report was ordered to be filed." Hit, 95. 

2 Ibid. 52. 3 November 28, 1 774. Ibid. 
4 December 7, 1 774. 5 Ibid:, 61. 



1 49] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHU SETTS j 49 

With equal promptness, however, on the day after the 
action just outlined, the members of the first Congress put 
themselves on record by accepting a suggestive and signifi- 
cant report submitted by the committee on manufactures. 1 
Although merely a series of recommendations to their con- 
stituents, the action illustrates plainly the condition of the 
province and the policy of its leaders. The preamble of 
their resolutions suggests that " the happiness of every 
political body of men upon earth, is to be estimated, in a 
great measure, upon their greater or less dependence upon 
any other political bodies;" internal economic weakness 
may readily entail political subjection to another body. To 
prevent " so great an evil, more to be dreaded than death 
itself, it must be the wisdom of this colony at all times, more 
especially at this time, when the hand of power is lashing us 
with the scorpions of despotism, to encourage agriculture, 
manufactures, and economy, so as to render this state as in- 
dependent of every other state as the nature of our country 
will admit; . . ." 2 The solution of the problem thus stated 
is begun by a series of recommendations covering a wide field 
and showing certainly an ambition for economic independ- 
ence. Thus, first of all, the people are urged to "the im- 
provement of their breed of sheep, and the greatest possible 
increase of the same ; and also the preferable use of our own 
woollen manufactures;" 3 and this is followed by similar re- 
mark on the raising of flax and hemp. Even the making of 
nails and the manufacture of saltpetre, " an article of vast 
importance." and likewise the manufacture of gun powder, 
of steel, and of tin plate is strongly recommended. Gun- 
locks, salt, glass, paper, madder, buttons, and wool-combers' 
combs, are brought to the public notice as proper objects for 
an expanding industry. In connection with the paper pro- 

1 December 8, 1774. Journal of the Provincial Congress, 62-65. 

2 Ibid., 63. 3 Ibid., 63. 



j 50 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [J50 

duct "a careful saving and collection of rags" is suggested, 
and a bit of bold economic legislation is attempted when they 
recommend " that the manufacturers give a generous price 
for such rags " The " encouragement of horse- 
smiths in all their various branches" is said to be of " public 
utility," and a further proposition is the " preferable use of 
the stockings and other hosiery wove among ourselves so as 
to enlarge ihe manufactories thereof, . . ." The establish- 
ment of societies in arts and manufactures is indicated as a 
means of making more effective these resolutions, which are 
concluded with the advice, already suggested in another 
connection, that the people " make use of our own manu- 
factures, and those of our sister colonies, in preference to all 
other manufactures." 1 Economic self-defense was thus 
crudely begun. 

Subsequently, in answer to the petition of Messrs. Boice 
and Clark, 2 who had " at a very considerable expense," 
erected paper works at Milton and who were unable to 
obtain a " sufficiency of rags to answer their purpose," it was 
resolved especially to urge "every family in this province, to 
preserve all their linen, and cotton and linen rags," and it 
was "also recommended to our several towns, to take such 
further measures for the encouragement of the manufacture 
aforesaid, as they shall think proper." 3 Likewise, soon there- 
after, 4 an equally significant step was taken when the Con- 
gress adopted such portions of a report 5 as provided that 

1 Journals of the Provincial Congress, 65. 

2 February 8, 1775; Ibid., 88. 

3 February 9, 1775; Ibid., 94. On May 16, 1775, on a report from Col. Bar- 
rett that a prisoner at Worcester was a paper maker, the committee of safety 
resolved that the prisoner should be removed to Boice's paper mill at Milton. 
Ibid., 549. 

4 February 15, 1775. Ibid., 100. 

5 The committee was appointed February 13, 1775, and consisted of Stephen 
Hall, Dr. Warren, and Mr. Browne of Abington. Ibid., 98. 



! 5 I ] GO VERNMEN T IN MASS A CHUSE TTS j 5 Y 

there should be appointed a committee "to draw up direc- 
tions, in an easy and familiar style, for the manufacturing of 
saltpetre, and that the 3ame be printed and sent to every 
town and district in this province, at the public expense/' x 
The step was made effective by the guarantee of the Congress 
to purchase at a stated price all the saltpetre manufactured 
in the province during the subsequent twelve months. 2 To 
develop this line of manufacture, a delegate was sent to New 
York to secure full information regarding the manufacture of 
saltpetre, and to engage the services of an expert in that 
work. 3 Similar encouragement was given to the American 
manufacturers of fire arms and bayonets, when the Congress 
resolved " to give the preference to, and purchase from 
them, so many effective arms and bayonets as can be deliv- 
ered in a reasonable time, upon notice given to this Congress 
at its next session." 4 On many such lines the Congress ex- 
panded the normal functions of a legislative body in its 
effort to develop the resources of the province to such a 
point that political self protection and economic indepen- 
dence would be equally possible and permanent. 

§ 5. Public Finance 

The supremacy of the Provincial Congress and its early 
claim of some permanence were manifested by nothing 
more plainly than by the attitude and action of the Con- 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 1 00. 

2 This function of the Congress to guarantee, in various ways, private invest- 
ments in enterprises of public benefit, is well illustrated in other colonies. 
Cf e. g.: Journals of the Provincial Congress of A T ew J ork, Albany, 1842,1., 
349,365. 4 American Archives, III., 209-211; IV., 72; V., 1336-1338; V., 
1560; VI., 1469. Proceedings of the Convention of Virginia [of March 1775], 
Richmond, 1 81 6, 7, 8. Proceedings of the Convention of Virginia [of July 1775], 
Richmond, 1816, 61, 62. 

*Ibid., 417, 418, 421, 423. 

4 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 103. 



152 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH {l^Z 

gress upon matters of public finance. It has been seen 
already that after three weeks of preliminary work the Con- 
gress had taken into its immediate control the financial sys- 
tem of the province, and had appointed a provincial treas- 
urer and receiver-general who should supersede the royal 
appointee. Having created at the head of this important de- 
partment an official who recognized no superior except the 
Congress, the efforts of that new representative body were 
thoroughly and promptly endorsed by the towns throughout 
the province. By these recognition was accorded the new 
treasurer, and to him, if to anyone, the proper local pay- 
ments were made. The constables in the towns, and the 
sheriffs in the counties, as well as the respective assessors 
and commissioners, acted under immediate responsibility to 
their various constituencies, and in direct obedience to them. 
Above these officials all persons connected with the finan- 
cial administration of the province were appointed and di- 
rected by the Provincial Congress. Thus quickly, and with- 
out disturbance, the new power gained control of what 
might well be made its greatest strength, and the loss of which 
was to become in every way a serious matter for the royal 
government, even though the mere loss of provincial revenue 
might easily be sustained, and the diverting of it to improper 
channels overlooked for a time. In this instance, however, 
there was slight indication that the diversion was temporary. 
It was quite otherwise ; and the accompanying changes even 
of personnel were equally suggestive of a completere organiz- 
ation of government, with the recognition of new theories at 
its base and a new sovereign at its head. 

Asserting thus early its control of the financial administra- 
tion, the Congress proceeded promptly to exercise functions 
relative thereto and of equally deep significance. Thus, 
more than a week before Gardner was given his appoint- 
ment, the Provincial Congress began the consideration of a 



153] G0 V ERN MENT IN MASSA CHU SETTS j 5 3 

far more radical step, the appropriation of taxes assessed 
under the royal government. The committee, already 
noticed, " on the state of the province," reported, on Octo- 
ber 20, a resolve " relative to the payment and collecting of 
the outstanding rates and taxes," which was read and recom- 
mitted. 1 The same committee, October 28, again reported 
such a resolve which at first was promptly accepted. This 
vote, however, was immediately reconsidered, and the re- 
solve was referred for amendment to Major Hawley, Mr. 
Gerry, and Major Foster. Their report was promptly made, 
and the resolve forthwith adopted. In this was incorporated 
the earlier action of the same day, the election of Henry 
Gardner as provincial treasurer. The duties of that officer 
were indicated in a general way, and recommendations 
were adopted urging the payment to him of all province 
moneys, and " that the like order be observed respecting 
the tax ordered by the great and general court at their last 
May session. 2 " The recommendations of a body so formed 
could not be other than an expression of public opinion, 
and were for the people of the province law in everything 
but name. By such action at this time the Provincial 
Congress asserted, in part possibly by implication, that 
in itself alone rested the control of the provincial funds by 
whomsoever created, 3 and that by itself as well was 
acquired the functions of the earlier General Court, to 
levy and collect taxes as the legal representatives of the peo- 
ple. The position thus assumed was reaffirmed in Decem- 
ber, 4 and the authority of the Provincial Congress in this 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 23. 2 Ibid., 39. 

3 This is made plain even so late as April 25, 1775, when the Congress ordered 
the treasurer to make a statement concerning the finances of the province, and 
he answered "in a general way, that, for the year 1773, it was supposed that 
about ^20,000 was due, and that he had received about ^5,000." Ibid., 151. 

4 December 9, 1774. Ibid., 65. 



154 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH \\^\ 

matter seems to have been seriously questioned by none. 
Its officers were recognized as fully authorized to handle all 
province moneys. 

Such funds, however, scarcely sufficed to meet even the 
preliminary expenses of a campaign still in the future. The 
effect of the policy of the " association " was naturally to de- 
crease the supply of ready money ; and whatever small 
amounts might be held by its self-sacrificing supporters 
could well be retained by them, during such uncertainty of 
government, without a conscious stifling of patriotism. 
Whatever were the causes, it was a striking, if unpleasant, 
fact that many towns were repeatedly, in cases perhaps even 
permanently, delinquent in the payment of provincial taxes. 
Nevertheless, the imperative need of more secure fortifica- 
tions and of ampler military supplies rendered unavoidable, 
if submission were not to follow, an early and a large ex- 
penditure. The equipment and the support of an army, as 
well as the payment of volunteers, increased the cost of the 
new movement and made necessary the acquisition, by some 
means, of a fund of ready money. 

The seriousness of the financial situation did not become 
evident until the time of the second Provincial Congress. 
The first Congress had appointed a committee "to collect the 
several expenses which have accrued to the Congress in this 
and a former session thereof," had accepted their report on 
the last day of their session, and then had easily disposed of 
the matter by ordering the receiver-general " to pay and 
discharge the several demands therein mentioned." 1 With 
the second Provincial Congress, however, the problems and 
the difficulties appeared. Thus, as early as February 7, 
1775, when Dr. Warren and four associates were appointed 
to consider the accounts of the delegates to the recent Con- 
tinental. Congress and to report an allowance for their ex- 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 72. 



1 5 5 ] G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA C II USE TTS r 5 5 

penses and services, they were directed " also to devise some 
method how the money shall be procured to discharge the 
same ; and also how the money shall be procured to enable 
our present delegates appointed to attend the American 
Congress to refund their expenses." 1 A trivial matter thus 
suggested an important question, but for the time being a 
resort to any special method of money-raising was avoided. 2 

At the end of March the needs of the province were im- 
pressed upon the towns by the Provincial Congress in a hand- 
bill urging the immediate payment of public moneys still re- 
tained by negligent collectors and constables and expressing 
the desire of the Congress to complete " the preparations so 
essentially necessary to the public safety, without calling on 
them for other moneys, than such as are now due to the 
colony." 3 The possibilities did not really become im- 
mediate until after the events of April 19. The patriotic 
vote, passed soon thereafter, to raise an army of 13,600 
naturally involved many contingencies. Of these, the most 
formidable was soon before the Congress; and on April 27, 
by special order of the day previous, the Congress took up 
the matter of supplying the treasury, and ordered that a 
committee of seven be chosen by ballot for reporting there- 
on. 4 The Rev. Mr. Murray, Col. Dexter, Mr. Gerry, and 
four others were, on April 29, named for this service. 5 

On May 3 a report was rendered and accepted. By this 
action the receiver-general was " empowered and directed" 
to borrow ^100,000, "lawful money," and to issue in return 
securities of the colony bearing six per cent, interest, and 
payable June 1, 1 777- 6 A form of security was adopted, 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 87. 

2 The committee report was adopted February 10, and simply authorized the 
specified payments to be made to the men in question by the receiver-general, 
without any reference to any special means of raising the funds. Ibid., 95. 

3 March 31, 1775. Ibid., 113. 4 Ibid., 160. h Ibid., 169. 

6 It was provided, later in the day, that no note of less than £\ be issued. Ibid., 
186, 187. 



I $6 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [^5 

and it was resolved that the Continental Congress "be de- 
sired to recommend to the several colonies to give a 
currency to such securities." 1 In a letter to the Continental 
Congress, adopted the same day by the Provincial Congress, 
the new financial step was spoken of as " the only measure 
which we could have recourse to for supporting our forces;" 
and their co-operation was asked " in rendering our measures 
effectual, by giving our notes currency through the con- 
tinent." 2 On May 9, the receiver-general was directed " to 
give public notice of the resolve, lately passed by this Con- 
gress, for borrowing money on the credit of the colony, and 
assign certain time and place when he will attend that busi- 
ness." 3 Not long thereafter it became necessary for the 
Congress to appoint a special committee " to inquire where 
the treasurer may procure money for the muster masters to 
supply the soldiers with advance pay." 4 The situation, how- 
ever, seems not to have improved, and on May 24 the Con- 
gress issued to the inhabitants of Massachusetts an address 5 
dealing with this matter of a public loan. Reference was 
made to their readiness, already shown, " to supply, on the 
credit of the colony, many necessary articles for the use of 
the army," but the army needed a large supply of " every 
article necessary for the most effectual military operations," 
and if they should " fail herein, it may prove ruinous and 
destructive to the community, whose safety, under God, de- 
pends upon their vigorous exertions." They urge that all 
money "which you can spare from the necessary supplies of 
your families," be invested in the new six per cent, notes; 
and to possible lenders it is suggested " that there are now 
no ways of improving money in trade, and that there is the 
greatest probability, that the other colonies will give a ready 
currency to the notes, which will render them, in one respect 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 185. 2 Ibid., 189. 3 Ibid., 207. 

4 May 18, 1775. Ibid., 238. 5 Ibid., 255, 256. 



j 57 1 GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSETTS ! 5 j 

at least, on a better footing than any notes heretofore issued 
in this colony." The appropriate moral plea was urged, and 
the prospect of ruin arising from " undue caution " was sug- 
gested ; but it was all in vain. The efforts of the Provincial 
Congress to exchange its two year six per cents, for solid 
cash were of no avail ; resources were not thus acquired, and 
of necessity a further step was taken. 

The Provincial Congress now took an even bolder course, 
and aimed to supply for the province a paper currency, com- 
posed of the notes or bills of credit of the Congress, its 
promises to pay, issued not in return for a money loan, but, 
commonly, for services and supplies. Thus, on May 15, 
1775, a committee was appointed to report a resolve "for 
supplying the soldiers with two twenty shilling bills each, for 
a month's advance pay;" 1 and five days thereafter the Con- 
gress resolved that the receiver-general should issue, on the 
credit of the colony and for the advance pay of the Massa- 
chusetts army, notes in denominations ranging from six 
to twenty shillings and in total amount not exceeding 
£26,ooo. 2 The notes were to be dated May 25, 1775, 
and were to be payable May 25, 1776, with six per cent, in- 
terest. On the face of the notes it was stated that they were 
to be received in all payments at the treasury, and this 
was reinforced by the resolution of the Congress that the 
notes " shall be received in all payments in this colony, and 
no discount or abatement shall be made thereon, in any pay- 
ment, trade, or exchange whatsoever." This policy, then, 
adopted in the closing days of the second Provincial Congress, 
may explain in part the position of the Congress and its 
exercise of powers. In a similiar way, after two preliminary 
votes, 3 a committee report was adopted, July 7, 1775, pro- 
. viding for the issue of .£30,000 in bills of credit of small de- 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 228. 2 Ibid., 246. 

5 Of June 30 and July 6. 



1^8 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [j^g 

nominations, to pay those who had "supplied small articles" 
and had been "employed in the service of this colony, . . ." x 

Creating thus a provincial currency, the Congress went 
still further in adding to the amount of circulation thus se- 
cured the paper currency of the other colonies. Thus after 
considerable preliminary discussion 2 it was ordered 3 that the 
paper notes of all the allied colonies should, at specified 
rates, be a "good and sufficient tender for the payment of 
all debts," and should " be received into the public treasury 
of this colony without any discount or allowance whatever." 
The element of depreciation had already attracted much at- 
tention, 4 and any one who even asked a discount or a premium 
in connection with any of the paper in question was to be 
" deemed an enemy to the country," and all local committees 
were enjoined to discover and report all such opponents of 
the Congress, that either that body or the subsequent as- 
sembly might " take order thereon as to them shall seem 
meet." This legislation was continued on July i,s when the 
Congress directed the receiver-general to pay all orders or 
drafts upon the treasury, unless specifically calling for silver 
or gold, in such notes or bills of credit of the other colonies 
as were, by the earlier act, made receivable at the public 
treasury. 

The Committee of Safety had already assumed the power 
to expand further the currency of the province when helpers 
from Rhode Island and Connecticut came to Massachusetts 
supplied only with the paper currencies of their respective 
colonies. It was then resolved, May I, 1775, that thereafter 
the paper currencies of those two colonies should be re- 
ceived in all payments in Massachusetts, at the same rate as 
in the colony of issue. 6 At the same time tentative con- 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 464, 465. 

2 Cf. Ibid., 299, 300, 301, 305, 320, 410. 3 June 28, 1 775; Ibid., 415, 416. 
* Cf. Ibid., 300. *>Ibid., 437. * Ibid., 530. 



159] G ° VERNMENT IN MASSA CHUSE TTS I 5 g 

sideration was given to the possibility likewise of making the 
paper currencies of all colonies receivable for all debts, 
private as well as pubic. The nature of the situation, how- 
ever, had been defined; and the complete control of the 
Provincial Congress, and of its Committee of Safety, over 
provincial finance had been successfully asserted. 

It is hardly necessary to add that the exercise of powers 
so important was accompanied by the direct and complete 
control of the less important branches of provincial finance. 
Minor contracts, subsidies, salaries, even in detail, came 
under the immediate action both of the committee and of 
the Congress. Official bonds, vouchers, and claims came 
within their cognizance. The process and the control both 
of the acquisition and of the disposal of public funds, and 
the many minor powers incident thereto, figured among the 
recognized functions of the Provincial Congress. 

§ 6. Relations with the Continental Congress 

The position of the Provincial Congress can be further de- 
fined by a review of its relations with the Continental Con- 
gress and of its attitude relative to intercolonial affairs. As 
already stated, the call for the first Continental Congress had 
issued from the house of representatives at Salem in the 
preceding June. By the same body the delegates of Massa- 
chusetts had been appointed, and by it, as well, had pro- 
vision for their expenses been made. The delegation thus 
appointed had joined without hesitation in the deliberations 
of the Congress at Philadelphia. They there met delegates 
appointed by a general assembly, others appointed by a 
house of representatives, still others named by a provincial 
convention, by a provincial committee, or by an even less 
authoritative and representative constituency. 1 The pecu- 

1 Cf. "The Censor," March 5, 1776, "To the Apologist:" "Look around you, 
and you will see Delegates in Congress . . . whom the free choice of the people 



i6q FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [^q 

liarity of the situation was shown further in the indiscrimi- 
nate manner in which, in the proceedings of the continental 
body, an assembly, a convention, a congress, or a committee 
was recognized as the representative of the population oc- 
cupying the territory of what had been, and was still for 
a time a province. The course of the Massachusetts de- 
legation was characteristic. They had been appointed by 
one body of legislators, meeting under royal authority ; they 
reported, apparently with little question of the propriety of 
their action, to a distinct body, called with the sanction of 
the towns and acting as their responsible representative, al- 
though a body in its assumptions nothing less than revolu- 
tionary. In the Provincial Congress, November 24, 1774, it 
wa's resolved : " That the chairman of the committee from 
this province who were members of the Continental Congress, 
be desired to report the proceedings of said Congress." 1 
Accordingly the chairman of this committee " appointed by 
this province," at once reported " that they had attended 
that service ; that the Congress had taken into consideration 
the state of the colonies, and that he had a journal of their 
whole proceedings, which he would lay on the table." The 
proceedings of the Philadelphia body were then read, and 
the declaration of rights, the statement of grievances, and 
the " association " were referred to a committee of seven, 2 in- 
cluding the Warrens, Hawley, and Gerry. The committee 
thus appointed reported December 1, but the report was 
subjected to amendment, and was not adopted until Decem- 
ber 5, when in it was incorporated the result of further action 
by the Congress. 

On November 30 the question before the Congress as fixed 

would not admit in our Committee of Inspection, not to say into the House of 
Assembly." 4 American Archives, V., 72. Cf. Ibid., I., 893-898, 900, 901, 
906; II., 1820-1824. 

1 Journal of Ihe Provincial Congress, 49. 2 Ibid., 50. 



1 6 1 ] GO VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS l $ j 

by vote of the preceding day, was the expediency of adopting 
the recommendation of the recent Continental Congress for 
the appointment of a second similar body to meet at Phila- 
delphia, May 10, 1775. An affirmative response was given, 
and the size of the delegation was fixed at five; 1 two days 
later the election was held. 2 This choice was reaffirmed 
on December 5, when in connection with a hearty endorse- 
ment of the continental " association " and declaration of 
rights, the powers of the new delegation were stated as being 
" to concert, direct, and order such further measures as shall 
to them appear to be best calculated for the recovery and 
establishment of American rights and liberties, and for re- 
storing harmony between Great Britain and the colonies." 3 

The first Provincial Congress also appointed a committee 
to determine what allowance for services and expenses 
should be made to the delegates to the Continental Con- 
gress of September, thus presuming, in an important mat- 
ter, to assume the responsibilities of the royal house of 
representatives. 4 In the address issued to its constituents 
shortly after, on December 10, the Congress recognized that 
the Continental Congress had over the Provincial Congress 
such authority as the latter exercised over the towns. 5 
Thus plainly did the first local congress accept the situation, 
and such it had by implication done even before it had taken 
any of the steps mentioned in this review. So early, in- 
deed, had it felt the desirability of gaining approbation at 
Philadelphia, that on October 29 the Congress had requested 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 53. 

2 The delegation consisted of John Hancock, Thomas Cushing, Samuel Adams, 
John Adams, and Robert Treat Paine. Ibid., 55. 

3 Ibid., 57. This report was ordered published for distribution to all towns and 
districts in the province. Ibid., 58. Cf. Ibid., 66. 

4 Such a committee was appointed December 7, 1774. Ibid., 61. 
h Ibid., 71. 



\§ 2 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH V x ^ 2 

the Committee of Safety " to write to the Continental Con- 
gress, showing them the grounds and reasons of our pro- 
ceedings, and enclose them a copy of our votes and reso- 
lutions." 1 Such an act, while in itself not connected with 
the important events which occurred later, nevertheless sug- 
gests in a crude form their conception of the relation of the 
two bodies in question. This conception was developed and 
defined by the first Congress in the action indicated ; it was 
more strikingly prominent during the period of the second 
Congress. 

That body, on April 12, resolved that a committee of 
correspondence should be appointed in each county, whose 
duty it should be to receive from the various town com- 
mittees their reports on the execution of the continental 
and provincial plans; 2 it later, in its address to the people of 
Great Britain, took occasion to explain its steps therein by 
the fact that the Continental Congress was not in session and 
that an early account was necessary; 3 and not long after the 
skirmish at Lexington it appealed to the body about to meet 
at Philadelphia "with the most respectful submission, whilst 
acting in support of the course of America, to request the 
direction and assistance of your respectable assembly." 4 The 
appeal was significant; it was accompanied by copies of the 
address to the people of Great Britain, of the letter to the 
agent, Franklin, and of the depositions relative to the events 
of April 19. The creation of a provincial debt was explained, 
the military exposure of the province was emphasized, and 
insistence was placed upon the need of a powerful American 
army "as the only mean left to stem the rapid progress of 
a tyrannical ministry." 5 Of the creation of a provincial 
force they say, "The sanguinary zeal of the ministerial army, 
to ruin and destroy the inhabitants of this colony, in the 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 42. 2 Ibid., 139. 

3 April 26, 1775. Ibid., 154. *May 3, 1775; Ibid., 187. * Ibid., 188. 



j 6 3 1 GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS j £ 3 

opinion of this congress, hath rendered the establishment of 
an army indispensably necessary." The raising of a pro- 
vincial army without reference to the continental body was 
significantly explained when they said that the " sudden 
exigency of our public affairs precluded the possibility of 
waiting for your direction in these important measures ; 

The development of their relations in the domain of military 
affairs has been indicated already ; in the succeeding section 
some attention will be given to the relations of the Provincial 
and Continental Congresses in the matter of governmental re- 
form. It is upon these two points that the relations of the 
two bodies were especially significant and typical as illus- 
trating the manner in which the Provincial Congress con- 
sciously acted upon the assumption that its authority was 
less than that of the continental body, and that its acts were 
to be strictly subordinated to those of that assembly. It was 
a subordination, to be sure, based strictly upon the recog- 
nition of advice and recommendations, but it was made ef- 
fective, nevertheless, through that agreement of interests and 
unity of plan which gave to advice the force of command. 
It must be recognized, furthermore, that such subordination, 
in the months of which we are speaking, was expedient and 
even essential to success ; that such a situation was recognized 
by the colonists, and that, in consequence, the relations of 
provincial and continental bodies were far different in the 
early years of Henry's "all American" enthusiasm from 
what they were even a few years after the beginning of war- 
fare. Naturally, such reaction against centralization had not 
appeared during the months of the Provincial Congress, so 
that the description of its relations with the Continental 
Congress needs no qualification respecting the degree of 
subordination. The completeness of this supremacy of the 
new national body might be readily emphasized by carefully 



1 64 FR OM PR O VINCIAL TO COMMONWEAL TH [ T 64 

tracing its activity along less important lines and in regard 
to various matters of detail. Consideration of such, however, 
would afford little of special significance, and would serve 
merely to furnish additional illustration of the nature of the 
relations already indicated. 

§ 7. The Change of Government 

The Provincial Congress was, above all, an expedient. Its 
mission was purely temporary, and its course was accom- 
panied by repeated efforts towards a permanent organization 
of government. That it was at no distant time to be super- 
seded by another representative body, the members of the 
Congrecses themselves realized ; throughout their work they 
recognized the supreme authority of the people and their 
own transitory and dependent position. The occasion of 
the first Congress, its' basis, organization, and the exercise«of 
powers by itself and its successors, have been indicated. 
The further development necessitates some statement of the 
series of events which ended with the disappearance of that 
body. It must be borne in mind that, even during the sum- 
mer of 1774, proposals had been made to establish as the 
constitution of the rapidly developing commonwealth the old 
colonial charter of the seventeenth century. 1 Other, and 

1 Cf. Petersham letter, April 3, 1773; Revolutionary Corresp., III., 603, Ban- 
croft Collection. 

Cf. Joseph Warren, Boston, September 12, 1774, to Samuel Adams: "Many 
among us and almost all in the western countys are for taking up the old Form 
of Government according to the first Charter." Autograph Letters of Joseph 
Warren, Bancroft Collection. The letter is printed, with slight alterations, in 
Frothingham, Life of Warren, 375, 376. 

Thomas Young, Boston, September 4, 1774, to Samuel Adams, Philadelphia: 
"By all our advices from the westward the Body of the people are for resuming 
the old Charter, and organizing a government immediately. . . . Major Hawley 
is so strongly convinced of the necessity of resuming the Old Charter that he 
declares that if the four New England Governments alone adopt the measure he 
will venture his life to carry and defend it against the whole force of Great 
Britain, in case she resents it." Adams Papers, Bancroft Collection. 



! 6 5 ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS j £ 5 

more numerous, suggestions had been to the effect that the 
people should take as their frame of government the pro- 
vincial charter of 1691, suitably modified to meet the re- 
quirements of the new constitutional relations. 1 The need 
of prompt and effective action rendered it scarcely feasible, 
if not, indeed, unwise, to attempt suddenly to subject a revo- 
lutionary body to a constitution that would impose the for- 
malities and restraints of peaceful conditions. The difficulties 
of such a step were increased by the strong influence exer- 
cised over the popular mind by the "natural rights" phil- 
osophy and by the trend toward a " state of nature." 
Heightened individualism and a morbid craving for some 
tangible experience of this blessed " state of nature" pre- 
cluded, until that state had been approached, all possibility 
of a higher type of organization. Once reduced, in the 
months of the Provincial Congress, to the crudest forms of 
administration which were safely applicable, both leaders 
and people consciously recognized the need of a basis of 
government more truly adapted to the population. Toward 
such there appeared a distinct effort, and the result was the 
successful termination of the strictly transitional period 
through the adoption of an element which was lacking in the 
character of the Provincial Congress, that of a written instru- 
ment as the basis of government. 

An unsuccessful effort to return to the former constitutional 
system was early made in the attempt to establish by the co- 
operation of the " May "councillors, a bicameral legislature. 2 

1 And, further, Cf. Benj. Akin, Dartmouth, July 29, 1774, to Samuel Adams: 
"and when ever affairs come to be Settled; it Would be Best for us to form a 
New Charter for ourselves, that will be most agreeable to us; . . . ." Revolu- 
tionary Corresp., III., 277, Bancroft Collection. 

2 On October 27, 1774, a motion to invite Samuel Danforth to attend was 
defeated. He had been chosen to the council in May, 1774, and had not been 
negatived by Gov. Gage. Of that council Gage had negatived 13 out of 28. It 
was now voted to ask the attendance of 12 of those whom he had not negatived. 



1 66 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [t66 

On the day when the formal invitation was extended to 
those who, it was thought, might still form an upper chamber, 
a committee, consisting of Major Hawley, Mr. Cushing, and Mr. 
Gerry, was appointed to report a resolve " relative to an equal 
representation of the province in Congress at the next meeting 
thereof." 1 In the first Provincial Congress, somewhat later, 
a report was considered from the committee on the state of 
the province, relative to assuming civil government, but it 
was ordered to lie on the table. 2 On the same day the Con- 
gress was dissolved, an election of a second and similar Pro- 
vincial Congress was called, and the franchise for that body 
was granted to " such only as are qualified by law to vote for 
representatives in the general assembly, . . . " 3 Such oppor- 
tunity for popular action, even in so troublesome times, was 
deliberately allowed, since it was known that " many states 
have been taught by fatal experience, that powers delegated 
by the people for long periods have been abused to the en- 
dangering the public rights and liberties," and since the 
members of the Congress considered that they had been 
chosen when the public was " not apprehensive that the 
business necessary to be done would require their attendance 
for any long time. . . . " 4 A distinction with reference to 

It was also voted on October 27, that John Erving and Jeremiah Powell, both of 
whom also had escaped the royal negative in May, should be invited to attend, 
"upon its being evident that they had not accepted, and upon their having given 
full assurances that they would not accept, of their commissions as mandamus 
counsellors, . . . ." Journal of the Provincial Congress, 36, 37. 

On the next day it was voted that fourteen of these " constitutional members 
of his majesty's council of this colony, by the royal charter chosen to said office 
last May session, be desired to give their attendance at the next meeting of this 
Congress upon adjournment, that this body may have the benefit of their advice 
upon the important matters that may then come under consideration." Ibid., 40. 
Cf. Ibid., 48-51. 

1 October 28, 1774; Ibid., 40. 

2 December 10, 1774; Ibid., 72. 

3 Ibid., 7 3. *Ibid., 73. 



ifiy'] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS I fiy 

tenure of mandate appeared in the election of the new Con- 
gress for a stated term, and as the 30th May 1 drew near, the 
danger of a legislative interim increased, 2 and steps were 
taken on May 5 for the election of a third Congress, to meet 
May 31, and to be composed of as large delegations as each 
town and district should determine. They should be chosen, 
as previously, by those legally qualified to vote for represen- 
tatives, and should continue in power for six months. 3 On the 
day after these votes an effort at reorganization was made, by 
the appointment of a committee of seven to report a resolu- 
tion " containing a reconsideration of the resolve passed yes- 
terday, respecting the choice of delegates for a new Congress, 
so far as to determine what towns should send members, and 
how many members each town and district ought to send." 4 
Such a check, however, upon the process of renewal was 
rejected ; the vote was reconsidered as soon as passed ; and 
there followed the less harmful step, unrestricted as to 
time or effect, of the appointment of a new committee 
of five with the general duty, '* to take into consideration an 
equal representation of this colony, and report thereon." 
Before any such report could be presented more radical 
action was taken by the Congress relative to the reformation 
of government. 5 On May 12, 1775, it was moved first that 
the " sense " of the Congress should be taken on the ques- 
tion : " Whether there is now existing in this colony a neces- 

1 The Congress was elected to serve " until the Tuesday next preceding the last 
Wednesday of May next, and no longer; . . . ." Journal of the Provincial 
Congress, 73. 

2 As to the possibility of the election of a General Court on the basis of writs 
ssued by General Gage and the loss of such possibility see pp. 63-65. 

' 6 Cf. Ibid, 195, 196. *Ibid.,igS. 

5 On May 5, 1775, a resolution of the Committee of Safety was presented, " giv- 
ing it as their opinion, that government, in full form, ought to be taken up imme- 
diately," and the consideration was appointed for May 9. Ibid., 19 7. Cf. Ibid., 
536. On May 8, the consideration was postponed until May 12. Ibid., 207. 



1 68 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ x 68 

sity of taking up, and exercising the powers of civil govern- 
ment, in all its parts." 1 The question was then considered in 
the committee of the whole house, Joseph Warren acting as 
chairman. Their report to the Congress was to the effect 
" that a committee be raised, for the purpose of reporting to 
the Congress an application to the Continental Congress for 
obtaining their recommendation for this colony to take up 
and exercise civil government, as soon as may be, and that 
the committee be directed to ground the application on the 
necessity of the case ;"* the report was promptly accepted by 
a large majority, and the preparation of the application was en- 
trusted to a committee of seven, Messrs Joseph Warren, 2 
Church, Gerry, James Warren, Sullivan, Danielson, and Lin- 
coln. 3 By this act a distinctly new course was taken by the Con- 
gress ; its adoption and its development were equally signifi- 
cant. On May i6the special committee made its report, which 
was carefully considered and accepted. This involved the im- 
mediate despatch to the Continental Congress of a memorial 
which should state the circumstances of Massachusetts with 
reference to governmental and military affairs and should 
allude to the increasing probability that by the sword alone 
could a decision of the question at issue between themselves 
and the motherland be reached. And inasmuch as this ques- 
tion, they continued, " equally affected our sister colonies 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 219. 

2 On May 14, 1775, Joseph Warren wrote to Samuel Adams: " We are here 
waiting for advice from the Continental Congress respecting our taking up gov- 
ernment. We cannot think, after what we have suffered for a number of years, 
that you will advise us to take up that form established by the last charter, as it 
contains in it the seeds of despotism, and would, in a few years, bring us again 
into the same unhappy situation in which we now are." Frothingham, Life of 

Warren, 483. On May 16, Warren wrote to Arthur Lee, then in London: "I 
suppose, before I hear from you again, a new form of government will be estab- 
lished in this colony. Great Britain must now make the best she can of Amer- 
ica." Ibid., 488. This is printed in 4 American Archives, II., 619, 620. 

3 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 219, 220. 



1 69 1 G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE ITS j fig 

and us, we have declined, though urged thereto by the most 
pressing necessity, to assume the reins of civil government," 1 
without the advice and consent of the Continentfd Congress. 
The raising of an army more clearly revealed the need of the 
situation, for in the current political philosophy " the sword 
should, in all states, be subservient to the civil powers," and 
the Massachusetts men confessed a tremor " at having an 
army, although consisting of our own countrymen, established 
here, without a civil power to provide for and control it." 
Thus appealing to and recognizing " the representative 
body of the continent," they asked its most explicit advice, 
with reference to the assumption and exercise of powers of 
civil government, which they thought " absolutely necessary 
for the salvation of our country;" and pledged their prompt 
submission to such general plans as might be adopted by the 
Continental Congress. 2 A long step had been taken not 
only toward the nationalization of the new general govern- 
ment, but also toward the local reorganization in Massa- 
chusetts. 

The matter thus formulated was presented to the Conti- 
nental Congress on June 2, 1775, when the letter of the 
Massachusetts Congress was read and ordered to lie over for 
further consideration. 3 On the same day Dr. Church, by 
vote of the Congress, appeared before that body, and further 
communications from Massachusetts were laid before the 
Congress by its president. 4 On the next day the Massa- 
chusetts letter of May 16 was again read and referred, for 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 230. The letter is printed in 4 American 
Archives, II., 1842. 

2 On the same day, May 16, it was determined by ballot that Dr. Benj. Church 
should present the request. Journal of the Provincial Congress, 232. On 
July 9, 1775, the receiver general was directed to pay Dr. Church, ^'34: 
5 sh. : 2 d., " in full discharge of his account of expenses of himself and servant, 
on a journey to Philadelphia, in May last." Ibid., 479. 

3 Journal of 'the Continental Congress, I., 112. * Ibid., I., 113. 



1 70 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEAL TH [jy 

report, to a committee, chosen by ballot, consisting of John 
Rutledge, Johnson, Jay, Wilson, and Lee. 1 To allow time 
for committee work, no further session of the Congress was 
held until June 7, when the special committee made its re- 
port. This was read, ordered to lie over fur further con- 
sideration, 2 and was again considered two days later, when 
the Congress finally resolved upon the nature of its advice to 
the Massachusetts Congress. 3 

This reply of the Continental Congress, embodied in its re- 
solution of June 9, 1775, was significant and important. 
The actual situation in Massachusetts was fully recognized 
and endorsed. It was declared that no obedience was " due 
to the act of parliament for altering the charter of the colony 
of Massachusetts Bay, nor to a governor and lieutenant gov- 
ernor, who " would " not observe the directions of, but en- 
deavor to subvert that charter;" 4 and the radical conclusion 
was drawn that the governor and lieutenant governor were to 
be considered as absent and their offices vacant. They re- 

1 Journals of the Continental Congress, I, 113. 
*IKd., I., 114. s I6id., I., 115. 

* Ibid., I., 115. The resolution is printed in Journal of the Provincial Con- 
gress, 359. It is also printed in 4 Avierican Archives, IT., 1845. 

On June 10, 1775, Thomas Cusbing, at Philadelphia, wrote to Joseph Hawley : 
" Inclosed you have a Vote of the Congress relative to our Peoples taking up 
Government, which I apprehend will Correspond with y r Sentiments. A motion 
was made in Congress that advice should be given to y e present provincial Con- 
gress to chuse Councellors, but there being many objections to it, it was with- 
drawn. The Person that made y e motion observ'd that y e choice of Representa- 
tives would occasion great Delay — & that there could not at present be an Equal 
Representation as Boston would not be permitted by the General to chuse Re- 
presentatives upon this Occasion — he was answered that the Delay would not 
be great, that it was best to adhere as near to y e Charter as possible & not to vary 
from it but in case of absolute necessity — that as to the Town of Boston either 
the present Provincial Congress or the New Assembly could easily make some 
provision for their being Represented either by directing the late Inhabitants to 
meet at Cambridge or some other Town & chuse their Representatives or by 
divising some new mode of Collecting the Voice of the People upon this Occa- 
sion." Hawley Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. 



! 7 1 ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 1 j r 

cognized that there was no council and that the executive 
was directing hostilities against those whom he was com- 
missioned to protect. In such a situation an approximate 
conformity to the spirit and substance of the provincial 
charter was suggested. To effect this they concluded with 
the recommendation to the Provincial Congress to write to 
the several places which were " entitled to representation in 
assembly, requesting them to choose such representatives ; 
and that the assembly, when chosen, should elect counsel- 
lors ; which assembly and council should exercise the powers 
of government, until a governor of his majesty's appoint- 
ment" should " consent to govern the colony according to 
its charter." It was on the afternoon of the memorable 
17th June, 1775, that a letter of President John Hancock 
was received, enclosing the resolution in question. 1 On the 
next day, Sunday, a messenger was sent to Dr. Church for 
the letters he was said to have brought from Philadelphia. 2 
Immediately a committee of seven, 2 including Major Hawley, 
Col. Warren, Dr. Church, and Col. Otis, was appointed to 
take into consideration, among other things, the letter of 
Hancock and the resolution of the Continental Congress as to 
government. The committee reported on Monday, the day 
on which James Warren was chosen president of the Con- 
gress, "in the room of the Hon. Joseph Warren, Esq., sup- 
posed to be killed in the late battle of Bunker Hill." 3 Their 
report was read and debated, but its further consideration 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 352. 

Cf Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, 441, speaks of the advice as "a dis- 
appointment to the patriots, who desired to form a government worthy of free- 
men, . . . ." 

On July 9, 1775, James Warren, then at Watertown, wrote to Samuel Adams: 
"When are we to see all the Govts, & our own with them reformed & set upon a 
Good Bottom. We look for such an Event." Adams Papers, Bancroft Collec- 
tion. 

''Ibid., 353. * Ibid., 3S6. 



I j 2 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [iy Z 

postponed " until Doct. Church, who was at Philadelphia at 
the time said resolve of the Continental Congress passed, 
shall be present." 1 Such seems to have been the case on 
the succeeding day, when he was placed on a committee of 
five to consider some method by which it would be possible 
for the late inhabitants of Boston and Charlestown to vote for 
representatives, and to arrange for the printing and distribu- 
tion both of the resolve of June 9, and of the letter to the 
several towns of Massachusetts adopted by the Congress on 
the report of the committee of June 18. The contents of the 
Philadelphia resolution have been stated ; the letter now ac- 
companying that was sent out to the boards of selectmen in 
the several towns. These were requested to appoint an elec- 
tion of deputies, in which the suffrage should be exercised by 
all freeholders in each town and by all other inhabitants 
therein who might possess, " within this province or territory," 
a freehold estate valued at 40 shillings per annum or other 
estate valued at £>\o. Each town, according to the last pro- 
vincial act on representation, was to elect one or more free- 
holders, resident in such town ; each election was to be by the 
"major part" of the electors present in each town meeting; 
and, finally, the term of this new body was to extend from 
July 19, 1775, "until the end of the day next preceding the 
last Wednesday of May next, if necessary, and no longer,, 
. . ." 2 The meeting-house in Watertown was indicated as 
the place of assembling, and provision was made that each 
person duly elected should be formally notified of his duties 
by one or more constables of his town. A form of " return" 
was also adopted at this time, in which should be reported, 
over the signatures of the selectmen, the result of the elec- 
tion under their charge, and to which should be appended 
the statement of the constable that the person named in the 
"return" as elected had by him been duly notified and 

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 357. 2 Ibid., 359. 



j y 3 ] GO VERA MEN T IN MASS A CHUSE TTS l y 3 

summoned. On the same day, June 20, recognition was ac- 
corded in a letter to the Continental Congress, to the " com- 
passion, seasonable exertion, and abundant wisdom," of that 
body, and the assurance was given by the Massachusetts 
men that they would apply themselves " with all diligence, 
to fulfil your benevolent intentions, and establish the form of 
government recommended by your honors; that so, order 
and government may be restored to this disturbed com- 
munity." 1 

The elections thus called were held, and the representatives 
then elected met at Watertown on the appointed day. 2 The 
Provincial Congress meanwhile remained in session, sitting 
even on the morning of July 19, At that time a matter of 
finance was referred to three members who were significantly 
■" directed, in case they cannot report to this Congress, to 
make report to the next House of Representatives.'^ The 
use of terms was suggestive ; the evolution was rapid, and in 
form as well as in theory it was practically an unbroken de- 
velopment. The Provincial Congress, after the action indi- 
cated, voted its own dissolution ; and on the same day began 
the session of the newly elected and newly founded General 
Court. 

1 "Journal of the Provincial Congress, 365. 

2 In the meantime, on the basis of a report by Messrs. Hawley, Gerry, and 
Fuller, appointed June 21, it was, on July 5, 1775, resolved that, as unforeseen 
events might render the holding of a General Court at Watertown on July 19, un- 
safe and " very improper," a committee of five should have power, in case they, 
or three of them, " judge it improper or unsafe, that such general assembly should 
be convened at the said Watertown, at the time aforesaid, to agree upon, and de- 
termine, at what other place in this colony, the said general assembly should be 
•convened; . . ." Ibid., 369, 454. 

3 J bid., 501. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE CHARTER RESUMED 

§ I . Provincial Forms in the Commonwealth 

THE "resumption" of the charter of 1691 gave to the 
people of Massachusetts, who still retained their former local 
government, 1 a provincial government with accustomed forms. 
It gave them what in the ten months preceding had been lack- 
ing, a government of which the powers, functions, and duties, 
were to an extent defined, and in which, as well, the more 
important processes of the governing bodies were stated. 
This, as has been said, was an advance toward constitution- 
alism, although in form it was a retrogression ; for the gov- 
ernment now adopted by the representatives of the people, 
with the sanction of the Continental Congress, was a charter 
framed for a royal province and not for a democratic com- 
monwealth. This anomaly was not such in theory alone ; 
more tangible facts and even ordinary routine made it plain 
that the instrument could not long serve such new purposes. 
This was unavoidable in a document based, for instance, on 
an assumption of relations with an external and superior 
power having an immediate and vital share in the internal 
government of the. province. Massachusetts had had, to be 

1 An exception, in detail, arose from the presence of the royal forces. Thus, 
the General Court, February 8, 1776, (Acts of 1775— '76, ch. 12), moved the courts 
of Suffolk county from Boston to Dedham and Braintree, and further enacted : 
" That Dedham shall be the shire town of the county of Suffolk, for the future.'* 
Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass., V., 455, 456. This act was repealed 
on November 12, 1776, (Acts of 1776— '77, ch. 19), when Boston was re-established 
as the seat of the Suffolk courts. Ibid., V., 593, 594. 

174 [174 



! 7 5 ] G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS j y 5 

sure, a large share of administrative independence, and 
almost all the functions of its charter government were such 
as could be exercised by the independent action of the local 
population. An important exception, in which the influence 
of an outside power was apparent, was the provision for the 
appointment of the executive by the crown. In this official 
was vested an important share in the appointment of many 
officers, both judicial and executive, while he also pos- 
sessed essential powers of legislation, as well as powers 
of a judicial and executive nature. Strict adherence to the 
charter was then impossible under the altered circumstances, 
and it was necessary that some change should be made. 
The form which it took, was, that, when the charter was re- 
sumed, upon the council of twenty-eight, which formerly 
had shared with the governor certain of his executive and 
judicial functions, all the duties pertaining to the executive 
office were conferred. 1 By means of this modification in the 
provincial charter Massachusetts secured once more a defi- 
nitely organized form of government, and so continued 
through the next five years, a period stamped, equally 
with the preceding, as one of transition. Such character 
was plainly given to it by the pecularities of the modified 
form of government. These modifications, from both a 
theoretical and a practical point of view, made the period of 
its use one of slight, even if uncertain, length. 2 

Under the new arrangements the twenty-eight members of 
the council, by a majority vote, exercised powers of a legis- 

] A list of the members of the house and of the council of 1775— *76, was 
printed in the Boston Gazette, no. 1052, July 24, 1775. Lists of civil officers ap- 
pointed by the majority of the council were printed in Ibid., no. 1062, October 
2, 1775, and no. 1063, October 9, 1775. Cf Journal of House of Representa- 
tives. 

2 The town of Stoughton, October 2, 1776, in a vote relative to a new constitu- 
tion, referred to the state as " at present Destitute of a fixed and Established form 
Government." Mass. Archives, 125: 156. 



iy6 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [176 

lative, an executive and a judicial nature. 1 This fact, al- 
though directly contrary to theories soon to be strongly ad- 
vanced, was not in itself a bar to the use of the charter. 
The governor and council ordinarily exercised powers thus 
varied and intermingled. But while many such had been 
exercised by them jointly, others had been exercised by each 
independently. This was especially applicable to the legis- 
lative process in which the members of the council, acting as 
an " upper house," would pass a bill in their legislative 
capacity, which would then come before the governor for 
his action. It was possible, and it had actually occurred in 
practice, that the council, as a branch of the legislature, 
might pass a bill, and that a part of the body, acting 
as the advisory councillors of the governor, might recom- 
mend its rejection. The circumstance was abnormal ; it 
was even more so when the same body of men were in a po- 
sition both to act upon a bill in a legislative capacity and 
immediately to act upon it as an executive. 2 Practically, 
there existed a bicameral legislature, of which the upper 
house was chosen by the lower house, and by this annual 
choice directly controlled by the representatives of the peo- 
ple ; so that well might Samuel Adams speak of the govern- 
ment of Massachusetts as being "now more popular than it 
has been for many years past." 3 

1 It is significant that at the opening of each session of the General Court the 
council, as executive, adhered to custom and sent an address to the house. One 
further exercise of special executive powers is seen in the calling of the special 
session of August 5, 1777, by proclamation of the council, the General Court 
having, on July 8, 1777, adjourned to meet on the first Wednesday in September. 
Journal of the House of Representatives. 

2 July 29, 1775, the House in a vote referred to the "Council, in capacity of 
Governour . . . ." 4 American Archives, III., 291. 

3 Samuel Adams, Philadelphia, to James Warren, November 5, 1775. Adams 
Papers, Bancroft Collection. Cf Proclamation of General Court of January 
19-23, 1776: "The present generation, therefore, may be congratulated on the 
acquisition of a form of Government more immediately, in all its branches, under 



j n j 1 GO VERNMEN1 ' IN MA SSA CH USE TTS jjj 

It was unavoidable that, from a theoretical point of view, 
there should be found inconsistencies and anomalies in the 
use of such a charter. The assumption of such forms was 
what seemed the wisest move at a time when acts were 
largely dependent upon expediency. The justification of 
the action was afforded in the subsequent maintenance of 
peaceable and legal procedure during the years when efforts 
for a reorganization of government were being vigorously 
promoted and warmly opposed, and when these efforts at- 
tained final success in the relinquishment of the charter under 
which and against which they had been made. That such 
would be the result was tolerably clear even from the begin- 
ning. To be sure, Adams, in the letter just quoted, had 
written with safe qualification : " Perhaps the Form of Gov- 
ernment now adopted and set up in the Colony may be 
permanent." 1 At the beginning, doubtless, no difficulty 
would be experienced, and such views might readily prevail. 
Yet in the routine of legislative work it was not long before 
the disadvantages arising from substituting an executive body 
of twenty-eight for a single executive became apparent. 2 
Thus, even from considerations of convenience, the new ar- 
rangements were early condemned. To obtain the signa- 
tures of a majority of the new executive body for all public 

the influence and control of the people, and, therefore, more free and happy 
than was enjoyed by their ancestors." 4 American Archives, IV., 834. Cf. 
Ibid., IV., 1 268-1 270. Cf. John Adams, July 10, 1776, to Abigail Adams. 
Familiar Letters of John Adams, 198. 

1 Cf. John Adams, Philadelphia, May 27, 1776, to Abigail Adams. Ibid., lyj. 

2 Cf. Thomas Hutchinson, Boston, February 23, 1774, to Israel Williams, upon 
his trip to England being delayed by the illness of the lieutenant governor; for 
he would be "charged with indiscretion in leaving the Govt in the hands of the 
Council though they should be allowed to be the best men we have : the form of 
Govt which has a head consisting of 28 parts being very unfit for such times as 
these." Letters of T. Hutchinson to Israel Williams, 79-81, Bancroft Collec- 
tion. 



1^8 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH ["178 

documents was in itself a task of no small annoyance. 1 The 
insistence upon such procedure would only emphasize its 
unnaturalness ; its illogical character was illustrated in 1778, 
when, owing to the prevalence of small-pox in Boston, and 
to the difficulty of collecting a majority of the council, the 
General Court resolved that for some five weeks " any Seven 
of the Council be, and hereby are Impowered to issue' & 
Sign warrants on the publick Treasury, and allso all Acts 
Resolves & orders, Passed by the Two Houses, and all Such 
warrants on the Treasury and any other thing, Transacted, 
by Seven of Said Councill be & hereby is declared to all 
Intents & Purposses, as Valid as if the Same had bin Signd 
by Fifteen of the Councill, until the Twentyeighth of May 
aforesd." 2 Such arrangements served no good purpose, but 
were rather a hindrance to good administration, and fur- 
nished in themselves the occasion for their own disappear- 
ance. 

Although unsuited to the situation in the various ways of 
which examples have been suggested, the new frame of gov- 
ernment marked an advance over uncontrolled rule by Con- 
gress and introduced forms already familar to the colonists. 
With the important modification indicated the forms of gov- 
ernment of Massachusetts for this short period were identical 
with those of the earlier provincial period ; 3 such statement 

! Thus of the Acts of 1777-1778 one is signed by 17, one by 16, and all but 6 
of the others by 15 of the council. Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass.,N. 

2 Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass., V., 808 — reprinted from Mass. 
Archives. 205 : 218. 

3 Attention, however, should be called to the procedure in connection with the 
organization of the new house for the first time. The speaker of the house 
was subject to the approval of the governor; and legally a house without a 
speaker could not elect a council. Cf. James Savage, Constitution of Massa- 
chusetts, Boston, 1832, P. 4. Cf. Ibid., 3. 

On a further point a temporary alteration of procedure was allowed. The 
voters of Boston were allowed to vote elsewhere during the occupation of city by 
the enemy. Thus, on November 21, 1775, William Cooper, town clerk of Bos- 



j 79] G0 VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS l jg 

suffices to characterize these years and to explain their place 
in the transitional period. It was during them that prep- 
aration was being made for the next important step, and aside 
from what was done in that direction, little of the legislative 
activity of the time need be considered. That little, how- 
ever, was important. The first act 2 passed by the reestab- 
lished General Court confirmed all the resolutions and trans- 
actions of the Provincial Congresses from October 4, 1774 to 
July 20, 1775, as lawful and of as much force as if they had 
been passed or sanctioned by any assembly or General Court, 
The journals of the Congress might be used under the general 
issue to free one from guilt or responsibility, and were to be- 
come matters of public record. 

It was even earlier in its first session that this new house 
formally adopted the plan already sanctioned by the Provin- 
cial Congress for the exercise of executive powers. By the 
provisions of the charter, whenever the governor and lieuten- 

ton, issued at Watertown a notice to the voters of Boston to meet November 28, 
at the Watertown Meeting-House, according to the vote of the house of repre- 
sentatives of November 6, and to choose a representative to sit in place of 
Benjamin Church, who had been expelled from the house. 4 American Archives^ 
III., 1629, 1630. 

As to the location of the General Court during this period, it may here be 
indicated that on November 9, 1776, an adjournment was taken at Watertown, 
to meet, November 12, in the State House at Buston. Boston Gazette, no. 1121, 
November II, 1776. 

A further instance of irregular procedure appears in connection with the col- 
lection of the tax of ^46,000 levied by Acts of 1 775~'76, ch. 6. By this act it 
was provided that all inhabitants of any coast town except Boston and Charles- 
town, who had removed to other towns in Massachusetts since December 1, 
1774, should be assessed by the assessors of the towns whence removed. It was 
further provided that the fugitive inhabitants of Boston and Charlestown should 
be rated in each town in a separate list, on polls, personal estate, and business, 
"according as such assessors shall judge just and reasonable; . . . ." Acts and 
Resolves of the Province of Mass., V., 435. 

1 The preamble well illustrates the preceding period; see Acts and Resolves 
of the Province of Mass., V., 415. Charters and General Laws of Mass., Boston, 
1814, 687, 688. 



jgO FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH \\%o 

ant-governor were absent from the province the duties of the 
chief executive devolved upon the majority of the council. 
In the view of the house not only had both the governor and 
lieutenant-governor absented themselves from their official 
posts, but they had definitely refused to govern the province 
in accordance with the royal charter. The represenatives 
accordingly resolved that, until one of those royal officers 
shall return to his duty, or until " some Governour shall be 
appointed to govern the Province according to the Charter 
aforesaid," they will consider the majority of the " Constitu- 
tional Council " as the " Governour of this Province, and will 
acquiesce in whatever said Council, . . . shall constitution- 
ally do in such capacity." 1 

While thus offering presumably an opportunity for recon- 
ciliation and for a complete resumption of earlier forms and 
relations, the house showed its position more clearly by the 
prompt passage of a bill providing that all those officers, 
both civil and military, who held office by virtue of a com- 
mission granted by the provincial executive power " before 
the present meeting of this general court," should cease 
action upon such authority on the approaching September 
19. 2 New commissions and new forms of oaths made it plain 
that, after July 19, 1775, a new authority existed in Massa- 
chusetts. The change was shown to be a radical one by the 
subsequent and more important act of May 1, 1 776,3 when 
provision was made for the termination of the force of all 
commissions in the forms then current, for the disuse of the 
regnal calendar and phraseology, and for the establishment 

l 4 American Archives, 111., 289. This was passed July 28, 1775. Journal 
of House of Representatives ; where no page citation is made the reference is to 
the proceedings on the date in question, as given in the records printed at the 
time for the General Court. 

2 Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass., V., 420, 421. 

8 Journal of the House of Representatives. 



1 8 1 ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CH USE TTS l g T 

of the " Government and People of the Massachusetts-Bay, 
in New England," as the source of the authority by which 
writs, precepts, and commissions thereafter were to be issued. 1 
Thus, " We are daily altering our old, unmeaning form of 
government, as you may learn by the Style Bill," wrote 
James Sullivan, the author of the bill, to John Adams. 2 

To insure the success of this alteration of government, they 
entrusted the council with the authority to assemble the popu- 
lation for the defense of the province, and they passed, with 
reference to military affairs, further legislation directed to the 
attainment and maintenance of independences The plain 
assumption was that the end was to be success, and that a 
new state was to appear. The tacit assertion of this ap- 

1 June i, 1776, was fixed as the time after which the new forms were to be used 
in the courts, and the regnal dating and king's authority to be suppressed in such 
proceedings, and in writs, commissions, etc. All commissions, regardless of form, 
made by the majority of the council since September 19, 1775, were to be in 
force until September 19, 1776; but' the council were empowered to alter the 
form of such commissions. Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass., V., 484, 
485; Charters and General Laws of Mass., 798-800. By an act of June 29, 
1776, the council was empowered to alter also those commissions issued between 
August 1 and September 19, 1775; and all commissions, civil or military, issued 
between those dates by a majority of the council were to be void unless changed 
by September 19, 1776. Ibid., V., 549, 550. In the Library of Harvard College 
is one of these commissions, with the required alterations. Cf. H. B. Dawson, 
Declaration of Independence by Massachusetts., 1862. 

2 New England Historic Genealogical Society, Proceedings Co7nmemorative of 
the organization of government in 1780, Boston, 1880, p. 21. 

3 Cf. Acts of 1 775— '76, ch. 1; ch. 10; ch. 15; ch. 17; ch. 19; ch. 27; Acts 
of 1777-78, ch. 24. By an Act of January 22, 1776, Acts of 1775-76, ch. 10, a 
train-band was formed of all between 16 and 50 years of age, with several ex- 
emptions, including " officers and students of Harvard College, . . . church- 
wardens, grammar-school masters, masters of arts, the denomination of Christians 
called Quakers, selectmen, for the time being, . . . ." Acts and Resolves of the 
Province of Mass., V., 445. Legislation was directed to the enforcement of the 
resolution of Continental Congress. March 14, 1776, as to disarming the disaffected 
and those who refused to " associate." Ibid., V., 479-484. Acts were also passed 
to prevent the return of specified persons who had gone over to the enemy. Cf. 
Ibid., V., 912-918. 



lS2 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH \\%2 

peared in the legislation of the General Court of February, 
l 777> when the existence of a new sovereign was presumed 
in a statute concerning treason. A condition was there out- 
lined which involved allegiance to the power represented by 
the General Court. Treason against such power was defined 
and the penalties therefor were established. 1 On a similar 
basis new oaths of allegiance were prescribed. 2 Along one 
very important line of action, thus, the General Court gave 
endorsement and effect to the work of the Provincial Con- 
gress by impressing upon each member of the commonwealth 
the truth of the new theory of relations. The possibility 
and the propriety of such action by the General Court must 
have been evident, for the towns, with practical uniformity, 
had already by formal votes renounced their allegiance to 
the English king. The representatives had, on May 10, 1776, 
passed a resolve for obtaining from each town authoritative 
statement of the prevalent views as to the attitude proper to 
be assumed in case the Continental Congress should declare 
independence. The response was such as to give assurance 
that Massachusetts was a unit with respeet to the principal 
points of policy ; and it was such, further, as to justify the 
representatives in the position assumed and the course fol- 
lowed. 3 

While the short period in question was wholly a transi- 
tional one, the government of the province was on a basis 
which, with the important limitations indicated, was one of 

1 Acts of 1776— '77, ch. 32; Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass., V., 615. 

Cf 1 Mass. Reports, 360. 

2 Acts of 1777-78, ch. 18; Cf. Acts of 1777-78, ch. 25, which latter act 
elaborated and explained the former, and provided that, if any one declined to 
take the oath, proceedings should be begun against such person within two 
hours. 

3 More detailed statement would, however, show that in securing local expres- 
sion on the subject of independence, the house failed to obtain the concurrence 
of the council and finally acted independently thereof. 



I 8 3 ] CO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS l g 3 

permanence. As such a government, to all appearances, the 
General Court proceeded in the regular exercise of the func- 
tions of the provincial legislature. 1 In form, regularity again 
prevailed, and in the attainment of that was the success of 
the change. Revolutionary procedure was made impossible ; 
but to the people revolutionary acts had given more power 
than had ever before been effectively exercised by them. 
The governing and the governed were at last identical, 2 and 
the opportunity v/as seized to make the assurance of that 
identity permanent. When the guarantee of such perma- 
nence was introduced into the organic law of the land, the 
transition may be considered complete. The efforts to effect 
such introduction cover the greater part of this half decade, 
and are made amid prolonged contests in the press, innumer- 
able instances of varied local action, and a marked activity 
in the practical political life of the people. 3 It was unavoid- 

1 Detailed enumeration of those powers as specifically exercised is not essential. 
Mention, however, may be made of such acts as that of February 9, 1776, Acts of 
1775— '76, ch. 14, continuing or reviving 107 acts passed between 1737 and 1773. 
Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass., V., 457-462. Cf Ibid., V., 903-905, 
1 1 20-1 1 25. The General Court, before it had served six months, assessed a tax 
of £46,000, and ordered an issue of ,£75,000 bills of credit. Ibid., V., 423, 442. 
In view of the doubt of collectors as to their authority to collect taxes levied be- 
fore July 4, 1776, on October 17, 1777, the house resolved, the council concurring 
October 18, "That all such delinquent Constables and Collectors of Town 
County and Parish Taxes be and they hereby are directed to perfect their Collec- 
tions on such Warrants respectively, and that said Warrants are and ought to be 
considered in full Force the Declaration of Independence notwithstanding." 
Mass. Archives, 145 : 215. 

2 Strictly, of course, an exception should be made of those who by the slight 
property qualification were denied the right of suffrage, and a further exception, 
according to the views of some, should be made of those who by age or sex were 
also excluded from a share in the political activities. 

3 This last statement is emphasized by the large proportion of new members in 
each house of representatives. Thus in the house elected in May, 1776, out of 
a list of 266 members, 16 1 were not in the preceding house. Boston Gazette, 
no. 1098, June 3, 1776. In an incomplete list of the house of May, 1777, are 124 
new members. Ibid., no. 1150, June 2, 1777. 

In an incomplete list of the house of May, 1778, are 95 newmembers. Ibid., 



1 84 FR OM PR O V1NCIAL TO COMMONWEAL TH [ j 84 

able that under such conditions many problems of theory 
and many questions of expediency of action should arise ; 
and it was in the solution of such that the transitional de- 
velopment in Massachusetts made definite addition to the 
permanent results of the Revolution. 

§ 2. The Issues of the Period 

In the five years during which the restored province 
charter was in force, the steady trend was toward a re- 
organization of government on a basis that would prove 
to be of some permanence. In the course of this develop- 
ment many questions, both trivial and important, demanded 
attention ; and it was the action thereupon that made a 
significant addition to the constructive work of the period. 
When the first constitution proposed for Massachusetts 
was completed, in the year 1778, every colony had 
adopted a new form of government or had taken as such 
its earlier charter; one colony had adopted its second 
constitution ; and the people of the region called Ver- 
mont had declared their independence and likewise formed 
a constitution. In no instance had there been a sub- 
stantial recognition of the possession by the people of any 
constituent power, of any power to authorize the institu- 
tion of such forms of government as were about to be im- 
posed upon them. In some cases, to be sure, the members 
of the body which formed the constitution had been espec- 
ially instructed by their constituents to exercise such 

no. 1240, June 1, 1778. In the house of May, 1779, were at least 85 new mem- 
bers. Ibid., no. 1292, May 31, 1779. In the house of May, 1780, were at least 
94 new members. Ibid., no. 1345, June 5, 1780. In Connecticut, the house 
elected in May, 1779, had 101 members, out of a total of 146, who were not in 
the house elected in October, 1778. Connecticut Gazette, no. 810, May 20, 1779. 
In this house 36 towns had wholly new representation, and from only 9 towns 
were the same two members returned. Connecticut jfournal, no. 606, May 26, 
1779. 



1 8 5 ] GO VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS j 3 5 

powers ; or the convention had been given a claim to con- 
stituent power by the intermediate action of the people ; 
and yet other conventions or congresses had assumed the 
right to form a constitution, had done so, and had imposed 
their work upon their constituents, and enforced obedience 
to it as fully as their resources allowed. Regardless, how- 
ever, of the preliminary authorization, or the lack of authori- 
zation, of these bodies to form a constitution, it is an essential 
fact that in none of the fifteen instances indicated was the 
body which exercised such powers a body formed for such 
specific exercise and for such alone ; it was, on the contrary, 
a body oftentimes in its origin revolutionary, and in its ac- 
tivity showing elements of a supreme judicial control, of a 
direction of executive affairs, and of practically continuous 
committee work and resulting legislation, as well as such ac- 
tivity as is commonly considered that of a constituent body. 
The earlier instances of the exercise of constituent power, 
whether proper or not, are characterized by a further dis- 
tinction applicable to all, and far more important both in its 
practical bearings and in its theoretical significance. In no 
case was the work of the so- called constituent body submitted, 
for acceptance or rejection, to those in whose behalf the body 
was supposed to be acting. The possession by their consti- 
tuents of any power of sanction was disregarded or denied ; 
the new constitutions were actually imposed upon the people, 
whether accepted or not, and no voice in the matter was 
allowed to those who presumably might rightfully have such. 
Such arbitrary action was, to be sure, in many cases thor- 
oughly expedient; but such justification in no way mitigates 
the evil of such a course when judged by the standards of 
political procedure soon thereafter prevalent. In the politi- 
cal conditions then existing, with the enemy's forces near 
at hand or approaching, with many unknown enemies form- 
ing an indeterminate minority and a possible majority of the 



!86 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [jgg 

colonial population, with royal government already destroyed 
or rapidly falling to pieces, with local government maintained, 
if at all, only by public sentiment, it was imperative that there 
should be prompt and decisive action. The critical situation 
demanded, if disorganization and possible anarchy were to be 
avoided, the establishment of some organization to take the 
place of that already overthrown. Government, at least pro- 
vincial government, must be established, and in supplying 
plans for such the various congresses acted upon a candid in- 
terpretation of their duty to their constituents. Conscious- 
ness of such duty prompted, as well, the further action'of the 
peculiar type indicated. No risk should be taken in pro- 
moting the new establishments, for a failure in the first step 
might readily entail consequences not to be foreseen. The 
possibility of such failure was due in large measure to the 
character of the population, and to the rapid development of 
political conceptions and the resulting changes of political 
allegiance. The presence of sympathizers with the king and 
the existence of an unknown number of promoters of such 
sympathy made an appeal to the suffrages of the people 
upon any important question extremely hazardous and its re- 
sult wholly uncertain. To refer a question of such vital im- 
portance to the whole population was by the leaders deemed 
unwise, and was thus impossible. Each Congress accordingly 
took the successive steps independently of the mass of the 
population, with the co-operation in each case of a small 
number of true leaders, with the implied recognition and ap- 
proval of the electors of the Congress, and with the acquies- 
cence, granted for expediency or secured through compulsion, 
of the remainder of the population. 

The uniform application of such a description to all in- 
stances of the seizure of provincial governments before 1778 
makes clear the necessities of the time and the summary 
manner in which those necessities were met, and for that 



187] GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS 1 %y 

very reason distinguishes as especially striking the course of 
action followed in Massachusetts. In that commonwealth 
was put forth strongly the claim that in the people them- 
selves rested the supreme power, and there the composition 
of the constituent power was clearly defined. In that com- 
monwealth, as well, appeared in practice for the first time the 
proposition that the exercise of constituent power should be 
entrusted by the people to a body which should possess such 
power and such alone. 

The successful application of the former proposition was 
in a large degree impossible in the year of the greatest con- 
stituent activity 1 throughout the colonies. Even Massa- 
chusetts, in 1775, did not submit the question of the resump- 
tion of the province charter to a popular vote. By 1778, 
however, and even earlier, the situation had radically 
changed. Then the northern province was, from a military 
point of view, practically secure. Internally parties had 
long been defined, and proscription had made the province 
essentially a political unit upon all questions of real import- 
ance. It had thus become possible to make a direct appeal 
to the people without fear of the result. The security of 
such a step was increased by nothing more tangibly than by 
the manner in which town governments had been regularly 
maintained and had, with a very few exceptions in the early 
months, been controlled by the patriot party. Political ac- 
tivity had been kept at its height in the town organizations, 
and the political consciousness of each individual had been 
visibly stimulated by the current of action and by the pre- 
vailing political philosophy. Preparation for further advance 
in the political development was ample and obvious ; and it 

1 Cf. Wm. Whipple, Philadelphia, July 16, 1776, to John Langdon; as to the 
Declaration of Independence: "This Declaration has had a glorious effect— has 
made these Colonies all alive : all the Colonies forming Governments, as you will 
see by the papers." 5 American Archives, I., 368. 



1 88 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH \\Z^ 

was equally evident that even the first change could not be 
effected without the immediate participation therein of each 
person in the political society. The extreme assertion of the 
privileges of the individual and of his right to share in the 
political activity of the commonwealth resulted naturally 
from adherence to an individualistic philosophy and from an 
exaggerated and perverted regard for the " state of nature." 

The first important fact established in these few years 
by the men of Massachusetts was the superiority of the 
political population to forms of government It was asserted,, 
and the assertion was maintained, that the object of govern- 
ment was the good of the governed, 1 that government was to 
be administered only on the basis of definite stipulations and 
forms, and that the alteration of those rested solely with the 
governed acting under self-imposed conditions. 2 

The assertion was made, and maintained, that the power 
to confer authority to form a constitutional government, to 
sanction and to put it into operation, to alter or revoke it, 

1 Cf. "The Interest of America:" " We should always keep in mind that great, 
truth, viz : that the good of the people is the ultimate end of civil Government." 
4 American Archives, VI., 840, 841. Cf. " Where there are no people, there 
can be no government; it is the people that constitute the government; and to 
give away a government is giving away the people, in the same manner that giv- 
ing the proprietaryship was giving the soil." Four Letters on Interesting Sub- 
jects, Philadelphia, 1776, 12. 

2 Not even a special convention can establish a constitution that cannot be 
altered by the people. Furthermore : " Constitutions of Civil Government, like 
other things, grow better from time to time, until they arrive at the highest per- 
fection that their nature is capable of, and then they go to decay ." " Specu- 
lator," in Boston Gazette, no. 1134, February 10, 1777. 

The House of Representatives in a message to the Council, April 21, 1777, 
speak of the " People, who have at all Times a Right to form or alter a Constitu- 
tion, . . . ." Mass. Archives, 158: 81-83. 

Cf. " The Interest of America:" "As the Government is for the people, the 
people, when properly represented, have a right to alter it for their advantage." 
4 American Archives, VI., 841. 

Cf. Elliot, Debates, Philadelphia, 1888, II., 432. 



I 89] G0 VERNMENT IN MASSA CHUSE TTS l %g 

rested wholly with the people. 1 It was this recognition of 
the people as the possessors of the highest power in the com- 
monwealth, and as the source of all authority, that distin- 
guished radically the development in Massachusetts. It was 
the maintenance of this view that marked the procedure 
there as a significant advance in the development of the 
American commonwealth. 

As soon as the people were given an opportunity, by the 
resolve of the General Court of September 17, 1776, to act 
with reference to the exercise of constituent powers, we find 
a prompt assertion of the popular idea of the nature of the 
.action proposed. Many towns granted to the General Court 
its request for the authorization to exercise constituent 
powers ; but to such action was repeatedly joined the provis- 
ion that the constitution so framed should be submitted to 
the various towns for approval or rejection, or, as Ipswich 
voted, for " their inspection and advisement." 2 The opposi- 
tion of Worcester and Boston prevented the action in which, 
on the condition indicated, a sufficiently large number of 
the towns would have acquiesced. The refusal of Boston so 
to empower its representatives was a more emphatic assertion 
of local and personal rights ; in the view of the town the 
iorming of a constitution and government " extends as much 
to our Religions as Civil Liberties, and includes our all — It 
■effects every individual ; every individual therefore ought to 
be consulting, acting and assisting." 3 

1 Cf. J. Adams to Jas. Sullivan, May 26, 1776. Works of John Adams, IX., 375. 

2 October 7, 1776; Lincoln Papers. Cf. Vote of Rowley, October 21, 1776, 
that the Constitution should be published for " perusal." Ibid. Cf Vote of 
Salem, October 8, 1776, that the constitution should be ratified by the towns. 
Ibid. The vote of Norton asserted that as the end of the government is the good 
of the people, and that the power to form and establish a Constitution is " es- 
sentially in them." Mass. Archives, 156: 125. Cf. Vote of West Springfield, 
October 3, 1776; Lincoln Papers. 

• s Report of the Record Com??nssioners of Boston, Town Records, /770-/777, 248. 



IO/0 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ IO/ o 

Although it was not deemed expedient to act upon such 
authorization as was at that time granted to the legislators, 
the occasion served to give recognition and public sanction 
to the theory asserted, that no form of government should be 
established until it had been submitted to the people in their 
town-meetings. Such a proposal was thereafter repeated, and 
the procedure thus suggested finally established. A second 
reference of the question to the towns by the General Court in 
May, 1777, was followed by affirmative action on the part of a 
sufficient number of towns, but such action was uniformly ac- 
companied by the instruction to the representatives that the 
form of government, then to be devised by the members of 
the General Court, should be referred to the people acting in 
town-meetings, who should be recognized as possessing a 
final power to reject or establish. The instructions were ob- 
served, the reference was made, and the subsequent action of 
the towns was accorded full weight, both by the General 
Court and by the people. An entirely new practice, hitherto 
not countenanced in this constructive period, was thus intro- 
duced and its permanence assured. The attempt at a con- 
stitution in 1778, and its rejection in the following year, were 
instructive to the population and beneficial to the common- 
wealth ; they offered, as well, the opportunity for definite 
advances in constitutional development, of which none is 
more fundamental than that indicated. The theory and 
the practice then adopted were followed without a question 
or limitation in the proceedings of 1779 and 1780, and 
their incorporation into the authorized theory of the state 
assured. 

Among the reasons commonly offered for the adverse 
votes on the constitution of 1778, one, which was closely con- 
nected with another important advance of the period, was the 
fact that the document had not been framed by a body espec- 
ially created and empowered for such purposes. Formal 



j q j "I GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS j g T 

proposals 1 to prevent any such objections appeared as early 
as action upon such matters began. 2 Such appeared in the 
course of the action on the resolve, already mentioned, of 
September 17, 1776, and became more prominent when, in 
1777, the whole question was again presented. The General 
Court was then empowered to form a constitution, although 
the proposal so to empower it had met much opposition 
from those towns which considered that the exercise of the 
constituent power should be delegated by the people only to 
a body specifically created for that purpose and for that 
alone. 3 The opposition was increased by those who sup- 
ported the council in its earlier refusal to concur with the 
house in its proposal to form a constitution at the time ; and 
it was further developed by the press. 4 The General Court 

1 Similar proposals had been made already. " A Watchman," writing upon the 
formation of a constitution by the Assembly, had concluded: "... though I 
should think the mode adopted by some of the Colonies, of electing persons for 
the expressed purpose of forming the Plan of Government, more orderly." New 
England Chronicle, Powars and Willis, August 29, 1776. 

2 The Convention of Worcester county, Joseph Henshaw acting as chairman 
on November 26, 1776, favored a special state convention to form a constitution, 
and voted to urge the view upon the other counties. Boston Gazette, no. 1127, 
December 23, 1776. The proceedings of this convention were later endorsed out- 
side the county; e.g.: Windsor, Berkshire Co., Lincoln Papers. 

3 Boston, May 22, 1777, voted unanimously not to instruct its representatives to 
form a plan of government, and appointed a committee on general instructions. 
The report of this committee was accepted, May 26, and stated as to a constitu- 
tion : ..." we apprehend this matter {at a suitable time) will properly come 
before the people at large, to delegate a Select Number for that Purpose, & that 
alone, . . . ." Report of Record Commissioners, Town Records, lffo-ifff, 
284-286. I find the instructions also in Almon, Remembrancer, 1777, 243, 245; 
Boston Gazette, no. 1150, June 2, 1777; Connecticut Gazette, no. 708, June 6, 
1777; Independent Chronicle, no. 458, May 29, 1777. 

* " Cato Censorius " supports the position of the council and denies the con- 
stituent power of the General Assembly: "The only way then that remains is 
for the people to form .... the Constitution : And whenever any doubt arises 
about their meaning, for the people to explain it. This can only be done by a 
special Convention." Independent Chronicle, no. 461, June 19, 1777. 



1 92 FR OM PR O VINCIAL TO COMMON WEAL TH [jg 2 

of 1778, acting as a constituent body, was thus from the be- 
ginning of its work subject to severe criticism ; and it early 
became clear that the results of its work would meet with de- 
termined opposition from the strict adherents of the theory 
indicated. Even during the sessions of the constituent body 
objection was made on legal grounds to the participation in 
such work of certain representatives duly instructed by their 
towns to pursue an entirely different course. 1 

The question was brought into the contest with reference 
to the adoption of the constitution, and among the reasons 
assigned for its rejection the improper character of the con- 
stituent body repeatedly appeared. 2 The rejection of the 
document afforded a natural justification to those who had 
advanced such views as the one indicated ; the logical result of 
the prominence given to this view and of its subsequent pop- 
ular vindication was its permanent addition to the effective 
political rules of the people. That such was actually the re- 
sult, was shown in the manner in which the new policy was 
adopted by the representatives of the people assembled in the 
General Court, when, in 1779, they resumed efforts at a con- 
stitutional organization, and when, from the beginning, they 
acted on the assumption that the next constituent body 
should be purely such, and should exercise no powers not 
strictly within the constituent function. The plan of proced- 
ure formed by the General Court was sanctioned by the 
towns; the General Court was authorized to summon as a 
constituent convention a body distinct from itself, and upon 

1 Thus " A By-Stander " refers to the Boston instructions and to similar in- 
structions from other towns opposed to a constitution at the time, and, address- 
ing the convention, says that " within the walls of your house, gentlemen, there 
are those who were never empowered by the electors to assist in forming a Con- 
stitution; and some, speakers and voters in the Convention in direct opposition 
to the following instructions of their electors, . . . ." He quotes from the Bos- 
ton instructions. Independent Chronicle, no. 492, January 22, 1778. 

2 Cf. Lexington, June 15, 1778. Mass. Archives, 160: 30. 



193] G ° VER NMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS i g 3 

the summons such a convention was elected by the towns. 
For the first time in the new nation a constitutional conven- 
tion appeared for which the name was no misnomer ; the 
tentative processes oi the earlier days were rejected, and what 
became the recognized forms of the succeeding century were 
adopted. Upon another fundamental point Massachusetts 
thus took advanced ground. Herein again the events of the 
transitional period show definite progress in her constitu- 
tional development. They illustrate, as well, the possibilities 
which the Revolution offered to the colonists, and make 
still more striking the manner in which Massachusetts espec- 
ially began the settlement of constitutional relations accord- 
ing to methods which elsewhere were ignored, and upon princi- 
ples which elsewhere were much more slowly established. 

The recognition of the people as the possessors of the 
constituent powers, the highest in the commonwealth, and 
the addition to our constitutional system of a convention 
distinctively constituent, are of chief importance among the 
positive results of the transition in Massachusetts. Those 
alone may justify strong opinions of the importance and 
significance of the work, although it is not by those simply 
that such opinions are made possible. With reference to the 
less fundamental factors of government the time of change 
was made the occasion for progress. Even in the mere form 
of the constitution, the work of 1780 showed a marked ad- 
vance over earlier work elsewhere and especially over that of 
1778 in the same commonwealth. In the contents also there 
was a change, and for the better. Safeguards were made 
even more secure through greater precision ; the protection 
of civil, political, and religious rights was cared for with 
shrewdness ; and throughout appeared a consciousness of the 
permanent character of constituent work. Both in form and 
in theory there was manifested an enduring worth contrast- 
ing strongly with the crudeness which was apparent in much 
of the similar work done elsewhere during the same period. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1 778 

§ I. Preliminary Action 

THE " resumption" by Massachusetts of the available parts 
of her charter of 169 1 opened, as has been indicated, a dis- 
tinct period in the history of the development of the new 
democratic autonomy. The use of such a constitution, 
originally furnished by the royal hand, continued until the 
establishment of the new constitution of 1780; so that, 
stiictly, the revival of the charter spans completely the 
space between the disappearance of the royal governor 
and the organization of the new commonwealth. The 
activity of the Provincial Congress, of the headless as- 
sembly, and of the constitutional convention, would thus 
present in apparent completeness the history of the transi- 
tion ; but with a broader view and more inclusive treatment 
the earlier efforts toward securing a constitution and the 
proceedings in connection therewith must be considered a 
very pertinent part of the development. 

When, in June, 1775, the Continental Congress gave to 
Massachusetts the advice for " resumption," a step forward 
was taken in John Adams' general plan of revolutionary pro- 
cedure and definite encouragement was given to the rising 
plans for fit and permanent constitutions. By this time the 
prospect of an ultimate reconciliation with England was be- 
coming very slight. Hence, the suggestion that a new con- 
stitution should be formed might well be acceptable to those 
who, on general principles, were ready promptly to declare 
194 [194 



1 9 5 1 G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS j g jj 

themselves the source of power. The advice to Massachu- 
setts was in the following November repeated, in a developed 
form, to New Hampshire and South Carolina ; each, early in 
the next year, established temporary governments. A still 
more fully matured and more radical form of this advice, now 
by some treated as direction in the words of suggestion, was 
in the following May addressed by the Continental Congress 
to all the governments represented in its membership. By 
this declaration of virtual independence 1 the establishment of 
new forms of government on a democratic basis was fully 
sanctioned by the highest political power then recognized in 
the new nation. With rapidity and with all reasonable 
efficiency, new forms were established in all the regions 
earlier known as colonies of the empire. The occasion for 
the origin of such, the circumstances of the adoption thereof, 
the introduction of details of political organization then by 
no means common, and even the invariable recourse to the 
certainty of a written document, emphasized both the novelty 
of the procedure and the fact that arrangements of some 
permanence were being effected. Everywhere, except in 
New England and South Carolina, the finality of arrange- 
ments was evident. In the last named commonwealth the 
confessedly temporary constitution of 1776 was replaced in 
1778 by one of more permanent character. The earlier 
freedom from imperial control and other external relations 
made it easy and natural for Connecticut and Rhode Island 
to continue operations under their seventeenth century 
chaiters with practically complete continuity and with un- 
usual stability. After much delay and discussion the early 
and crude constitution of New Hampshire was superseded, in 
1784, by one intended for permanence. As in the middle 

1 Cf. John Adams, Familiar Letters, 173, 174, 195. Cf "Columbus" in 
Loudon's Packet, no. 24, June 13, 1776. Cf. Works of John Adams, II., 489- 
491 ; Bancroft, History of the United States, Author's Last Revision, IV., 342-345. 



I9 6 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ IO/ 6 

and southern provinces, so in Massachusetts, the charter did 
not readily lend itself to the uses of a constitution. It could 
serve for temporary purposes, but for nothing further. From 
the time of its reestablishment the popular aim, modified 
now by the exigencies of war, now by the tortuous currents 
of sectional politics, was toward the supersession of this form 
of government. 1 On this and allied topics for five years the 
public mind rested ; around this were grouped a mass of 
reason and opinion of the greatest variety and of strangely 
divergent types ; to this the attention of the assembly and 
the town-meeting, of the press and of the politician, was di- 
rected. 

Even in the month preceding the " resumption " of the 
charter James Warren had written from Watertown that he 
was relieved " by an Intimation of a probability that you will 
regulate the Constitution of all the Colonies." 2 In December 
of the same year Warren, in a letter to Sam Adams, asked : 
" is it not time to have the Constitution of our Supreem 
Legislative accurately fixd & fully Established & known. "3 
Already an address, 4 supposedly from a Salem man, had 
thus stated the situation : " We have it now in our hands to 
establish an everlasting barrier against ministerial influence, 
and to obtain substantial justice for the people. I mean by 
carrying back the Constitutions of the several Colonies to 
their original principles ; . . . Until this be done, we . . . 
must be governed by temporary expedients, . . ." 4 By 
John Pitts, of Watertown, the situation was thus stated in a 

1 Besides the many proposals for a complete supersession of the charter, men- 
tion should be made of the proposal to complete the government under the 
charter by the election of a governor. Works of John Adams, IX., 395,411. 
Cf.Ibid., IX., 451. 

2 To [Sam'l Adams] — June 21, 1775. Adams Papers, IX., Bancroft Collection. 
3 Jas. Warren, to S. Adams, Watertown, Sept. 19, 1775; Adams Papers, IX., 

Bancroft Collection. 

4 Sept. 8, 1775; 4 American Archives, III., 677. 



igyl GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS iqj 

letter of October 25 : "At present there appears to me just 
connection enough [with Great Britain] only to embarrass us, 
by spending a great deal of time to conform to a Charter 
w ch they have violated in almost every instance." " I think 
we are under no obligations to trouble ourselves with y e charter 
at all, but especially if it will retard or obstruct exertions for 
our safety, but attend to a plan best adapted to promote 
y e great cause of Liberty, the origin of government; . . . ."* 
The conditions of the need were scarcely such as to tend 
to unanimity either of purpose or of action. Various politi- 
cal theorizings, different views of the relation of circumstances 
and expediency, and a confused mixture of selfish views and 
discordant interests, combined to delay and even to obstruct 
the successful attainment of the end proposed. To cite a 
single instance of the uncertainty in the political situation, 
the Berkshire county committee of correspondence opposed 
the form of government recommended by the Continental 
Congress, and soon thereafter the action of the county com- 
mittee was repudiated by the local committees of eight towns 
concerned. 2 The position of the latter was elsewhere endorsed 
in the insistence upon complete disregard of old forms, and 
the creation of a governmental organization entirely new in 
origin, in sanction, and in content. The advanced views 
were repeated in a petition 3 from the town of Pittsfield which 
was presented to the General Court, February 6, 1776, 4 ask- 
ing that the General Court issue orders for the election of a 
governor and lieutenant-governor. From the same town 5 a 

1 Adams Papers, III., Bancroft Collection. 

2 4 American Archives, V., 807. 3 Ibid., IV., 1434. 
4 Journal of the House of Representatives. 

5 "The first motion towards a regular formation of government seems to have 
begun in the town of Pittsfield, as early as February, 1776, . . . ." Savage, 
Constitution of Massachusetts, 5. But Pittsfield, Dec. 26, 1775, petitioned the 
General Court, and declared its " abhorrence of that constitution now adopting 
in this Province." Smith, History of Pittsfield, I., 343, where it is stated that 
• 'some action must have taken place earlier, . . . ." Cf. Ibid., L, 343-345. 



198 -RR OM PR O VINCIAL TO COMMONWEAL TH r r g g 

memorial 1 was on May 29, 1776, presented to the General 
Court, 2 declaring that the dissolution of the power of Great 
Britain had left America in a state of nature, and that " the 
people are the fountain of power." From the former suppo- 
sition arose the necessity of a constitution of civil govern- 
ment; such a constitution, the memorialists would suggest, 
should be proposed, not imposed, by the representatives, 
should be ratified by a majority of the people, and should be 
subject to the approbation of the Continental Congress. 3 

With politics is involved economics, as when " Worcestrien- 
sis" mildly suggests that " the form and tenor of our govern- 
ment be lenient and bland, so as to induce men of free senti- 
ments and noble minds to emigrate from other nations, and 
become the free and willing subjects of an AMERICAN FREE 
State." 4 And, further, as the effect of imminent danger 
and of repeated campaigns, there appears in the discussion 
a tinge of pessimism, as in the letter whose writer supported 
the " opinion that it will be highly impolitick and even mad- 
ness to spend our time in constructing and refining of consti- 
tutions to the neglect of necessary defence." 5 This was 
pungently expressed, somewhat later, by " Marcus Brutus " 
when, in the Independent Chronicle? he wrote : " Let us not 
then employ ourselves any longer in vain disputes about the 

1 Mass. Archives, 181 : 42. 

2 The petition and memorial were read in the house, July 1, 1776, and referred 
to a committee appointed June 6. Journal of the House of Representatives. 

On June 4 the house resolved to appoint a committee of 9 to report a form of 
government and a plan of representation. On the next day it was voted to have 
one from each county on the committee. On June 6 they were chosen, including 
Hawley and Pickering. I judge that the committee must have remained in 
activity until Sept. 5, 1776, at least. Journal of the House of Representatives. 

3 Cf John Adams, Familiar Letters, 169. 
k Mass. Spy, no. 276, Aug. 7, 1776. 

5 to . May, 1776. Adams Papers, IV., Bancroft Collection. 

6 No. 457; May 22, 1777. 



1 99] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHU SETTS j 99 

form of government. Let us first see whether we have a 
country to govern, and ascertain the Lords of the soil." 1 The 
advance toward a new form of government was retarded by 
those who spoke for the unrepresented citizens who were ab- 
sent in the army ; it was hindered by those who wished to 
postpone the adoption of constructive measures until calm 
should be restored ; it was opposed by those who believed 
the existing forms were adequate to the needs of the imme- 
diate future. It was also emphatically renounced by the class 
which "do not like a form of government when courts are set 
up and men are forced to pay their debts," whose opinions 
" a Berkshire Man " voiced in the warning that if the " Gen- 
eral Court does establish such a form of government, we shall 
think them all tories — we shall never like it and for our own 
sakes as well as for the sake of our posterity, we are de- 
termined never to submit to it." 2 

However, what have been called the advanced views had 
been given to the public from high authority when, in 
August, John Adams, in a letter to Francis Dana, had said 
that " the right of the people to establish such a government 
as they please, will ever be defended by me, whether they 
choose wisely or foolishly." 3 Of this line of teaching the 
natural, as well as the most effective, outcome was the as- 
sembly resolve of September 17, 1776, when it was proposed 
to bring to a direct vote in each town the question of em- 
powering the house and council, acting as one body, to form 
a constitution, and the further question of ordering the pub- 

1 Cf. " Hampden " in the Pennsylvania Evening Post, vol. II., no. 290, No- 
vember 28, 1776: "For Heaven's sake let all disputes about frames of Govern- 
ment subside for the present, or we shall be obliged to receive a Government 
from the sword of a proud and successful enemy." This is reprinted in 5 American 
Archives, III., 890, 891. 

2 Boston Gazette, no. 1113; Sept. 16, 1776. 

3 Philadelphia, Aug. 16, 1776. Works of John Adams, IX., 430. 



200 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ 2 oO 

lication of such constitution for " perusal" by the inhabitants 
before it should be established by the General Court. 1 

Such a definite step toward the exercise of constituent 
powers defined public thought and aroused public expres- 
sion. To determine the theory of the situation, and to help 
in further procedure, the town of Billerica early 2 declared 
that the tyranny of Great Britain and the dissolution of con- 
nection between that country and her colonies had " broken 
up the Constitution of this Province," and asserted that it 
had " now become necessary, for the prevention of anarchy, 
for the preservation of internal peace and good order, and 
for the Mutual security of the Inhabitants in the enjoyment 
of their property and just rights, that some form of govern- 
ment be speedily erected ; . . ." 3 Stoughton repeated the 
assertion that " this State is at present destitute of a fixed 
and established Form of Government," 4 suggesting at the 
same time a series of county conventions with a subsequent 
state constitutional convention. As to procedure also, the 
town of Bellingham voted that " it should be proper that the 
form of Government for this State to originate in each town, 
and by that means we may have the ingenuity of all the 
State," and proposed that in each district thirty miles or 
less in diameter a constitutional convention be held includ- 
ing in its membership one in every thirty inhabitants, that 
the results be revised by the towns, that the deputations 
from each local conference join in a state conference, and 
that this body finally call a state convention to form a con- 
stitution, " so that they add nothing to, nor diminish nothing 

1 Boston Town Records, XVIII., 247. 

2 October 14, 1776. 

3 Mass. Archives, 156 : 162. A transcript is in the Lincoln Papers. 

4 Powars 6° Willis' Independent Chronicle, 425; Oct. 10, 1776. Also in 
Mass. Archives, 156 : 125, where the spelling is •' Goverment." The Independent 
Chronicle on December 26, 1776, had an account of the proceedings of the 
Worcester county convention concerning the need of government. 



20 1 ] G VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 2 1 

from the general sense of each town." 1 The town of Ash- 
field stood out early as a champion of the single legislative 
body 2 and declared its platform of general principles when it 
" Voted that it is our Opinniun that we do not want any 
Goviner but the Goviner of the univarse, and under him a 
States Ginaral to Consult with the wrest of the united stats 
for the good of the whole, . . ." 3 The towns produced a 
mixed mass of political philosophy and of practical politics 
that avoided philosophy ; the press began to abound with 
vigorous extracts from town records and with every variety 
cf political literature. 4 Of the latter material in the press of 
Massachusetts probably few contributed more in these years 
than did the Roxbury clergyman, Dr. Gordon. At this time 
he opposed the single legislative body, as well as multiple 
office-holding, quoting thereon the Virginia constitution and 
concluding: " I humbly apprehend, that sooner or later we 
must follow in the main the example of the Virginians, or 
rue the consequence." 5 Concerning his hopes of Massa- 
chusetts regaining her former political condition, his belief 
was thus tersely expressed : " Nothing will be more likely to 
promote these valuable ends, next to the good morals of the 
people, than a proper form of government, securing and 
perpetuating to every man and his posterity the full enjoy- 
ment of their rights and privileges, civil and sacred." 6 

Amid all this there was one barrier to success, when, on 
October 16, Boston refused to empower its representatives 

1 Lincoln Papers. 

2 As also, e.g.: New Salem; Cf. Mass. Archives, 156: 366. 
z Mass. Archives, 156: 131. 

* For returns to the resolve of Sept. 17, 1776, see, for example : Blake, History 
of Warwick, 55; Weston Records, 230; Clark, History of Norton, 425,426; 
Annals of Mendon, 348, 349; Hazen, History of Billerica. 238,239; Perry, 
History of Bradford, 29; Adams, Address at Acton, Boston, 1835, *7» l %' 

b 5 American Archives, II., 228. Cf Ibid., L, 1284-1288. 

6 5 American Archives, II., 227. 



202 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ 2 02 

to frame a constitution. There was a call to cautious and 
deliberate action, and an appeal was taken also by the cap- 
ital to the politically effective issue of equality of represen- 
tation. 1 Already John Adams had written to Hawley: 
" Equality of representation in the legislature is a first prin- 
ciple of liberty, and the moment the least departure from 
such equality takes place, that moment an inroad is made 
upon liberty." 2 In connection with this matter it has been 
said that " the most influential cause that led to a new 
model of the form of government arose from the great mis- 
take of the first Legislature," 3 in their act on representation 
passed by the house on August 17, 1 775 - 4 By this rep- 
resentation was made unequal and too full, 5 and occasion 
was given for such activity as that of the Essex county 
convention of April 25, 1776, by which a memorial 6 was 

1 Boston Totvn Records, XVIII., 248. The vote of the meeting of October 
11-16 is in Mass. Archives, 156: 160. 

2 J. Adams, to Jos. Hawley, Philadelphia, August 25, 1776; Works of John 
Adams, IX., 435. 

3 James Savage, Constitution of Massachusetts, 5. 

* Every town of thirty freeholders qualified to vote for representatives was to send 
one representative, and as many more as the earlier law allowed; every incor- 
porated district having all rights except representation was given that right and 
made a town. Charters and General Laws of Mass., 796-798. This act was 
introduced by Major Hawley; for its course in the house, see Journal of the 
House of Representatives ; begun July iq, 1775 ; 45, 53, 57, 67, 76. Acts and 
Resolves of the Province of Mass., V., 419, 420. 

5 Cf Vote of Hingham, May 23, 1776. Lincoln, History of Hingham, 106. 

6 In this convention seventeen towns were represented by twenty-two delegates. 
Danvers and Beverly subsequently agreed to the action taken. The memorial 
states: " ... we fear that if a different Mode of Representation from the pres- 
ent, is not adopted in this Colony, our Constitution will not continue, to that late 
Period of Time, which the glowing Heart of every true American now antici- 
pates " "if an Equality of Representation takes place in the Colony, we 

shall be satisfied, whether it has Respect to Numbers, to Property or to a Com- 
bination of both." It farther states that a single town in Essex county pays 
more taxes than thirty other towns and districts, that a majority in the General 
Court could be secured from towns that do not pay one-fourth of the taxes, and 



203] G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 2 03 

presented to the General Court; the committee report 
thereon was followed by the act of May 4, 1776, allowing 
three representatives for 220 electors, four representatives 
for 320 electors, 1 and so on upwards. By this the inequality 
in the representation of the towns was said to have been re- 
moved, but the house was made so numerous as to be un- 
wieldy. 2 Furthermore, a number of vigorous protests were 
elicited by the fact that this law was not promulgated until 
after the issue of writs for the May election, so that on elec- 
tion day towns within twenty miles of the General Court 
knew nothing of the new statute under which they were sup- 
posed to be acting. The assertion that the act had made 
the condition of affairs even worse than before was strength- 
ened by the opinion that the act was nothing less than ille- 
gal. 3 The effect of all this upon action concerning the 
resolve of the assembly of September 17 was indicated when 

that Essex county pays more than one-sixth of the taxes, but sends only one- 
tenth of the representatives. Mass. Archives, 159 : 192. Reprinted in Acts and 
Resolves of the Province of Mass., V., 542, 543. 

1 Cf Savage, Constitution [of Massachusetts, 6. Cf Acts and Resolves of the 
Province of Mass., V., 502, 503. Charters and General Laws of Mass., 694. 
The act was introduced, read three times, and passed to be engrossed, in one 
day. Journal of the House of Representatives, 242, 244, 245. 

2 Boston Tozvn Records, XVIII., 234, 235. 

To the house of July, 1775, 205 members were returned; to that of May, 
1776,266 members. Of the difference of 61, certain counties had fewer repre- 
sentatives, while there was an increased representation of 23 from Suffolk county, 
25 from Essex, 10 from Middlesex, and 7 from Plymouth. Journal of the House 
of Representatives. The effect upon inland counties of the suddenness with 
which the act was passed appears in the representation of Worcester county, 
1775' 37> J 77 6 > 34, i777> 62; of Hampshire county, 1775, 25, 1776,27, 1777,41; 
of Berkshire county, 1775, 7, 1776, II, 1777, 20. Ibid. A motion to repeal the 
act was defeated, June 4, 1777. Journal of the House of Representatives. 

3 "Centinel" in Mass. Spy, 298; Jan. 16, 1 777. The author of this article 
claimed that the Act made too large an Assembly and entailed too great an ex- 
pense on the remote towns; he even suggested the possibility of county congresses 
and a provincial conference to repeal the act before the next election. Cf. 
Worcester Town Records, 291. 



204 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [204 

the town of Sutton spoke of the house as a "very unequal 
representation," and also as illegal, many of its members 
having been " chosen by virtue of a pretended law made 
after the precepts went out for the election of the House." 1 
From this arose the objection of the town to the forma- 
tion and ratification of a constitution by such a house. 
The same day the town of Oxford adopted a committee re- 
port opposing the enactment of a constitution by an assem- 
bly which was such a " very unequal representation," 2 and the 
trend of action thus fostered helped in the distinct rejection 
of the September proposals. However, the refusal of the 
towns to confer constituent powers upon the General Court 
involved merely the defeat of a method of securing change 
without a denial of its need. The general recognition of the 
necessity of some alteration in political forms was modified 
by divergence of views as to the time for action and concern- 
ing the extent and thoroughness of the reconstruction. 

After a brief period 3 of comparative political quiet the pro- 
ject of reorganization was taken up by the house of repre- 
sentatives, which on April 4 adopted and sent to the council 
for concurrence a resolve* recommending that the people in 
the approaching election should empower their representa- 
tives to form a constitution for submission to the towns. The 
council, in its message in reply, suggested that the people 
had already too much to attend to, that a new constitution 
would help matters neither externally nor internally, and that 

1 October 7, 1776; 5 American Archives, II., 936. Cf. Benedict and Tracy, 
History of Sutton, 99. 

2 5 American Archives, II., 936, 937. 

3 On January 27, 1777, after the result of the returns on the resolve of Sept. 
17, 1776, had been reviewed, the house of representatives received a committee 
report proposing that for one year of a body, of the same size as the assembly, 
should be elected to frame a constitution. No action is indicated. Mass. 
Archives, 137: 1 38-141. 

4 Original Bill in Mass. Archives, 156: -200-202. 



2 o 5 ] G ° VERA 7 MEN T IN MA SSA CHUSE T TS 2 O 5 

with the removal of the governor the people had secured 
sufficient power. " There is such a variety of sentiments 1 
upon this head, that we believe no particular plan can be 
proposed but that will meet with very great opposition from 
some quarter or other. . . . " 2 The distracted career of 
Pennsylvania, that " recent instance of the dangerous effects 
of so great an alteration of government," was held up as a 
gloomy example, coupled with the fear that similar result 
might be expected from such an attempt in Massachusetts. 
The lower bouse, however, on the 2 l st, 3 maintained its position 
of the 4th and asked for a reconsideration by the council, as- 
suring them that their views and acts were controlled by the 
general opinion of the " People, who have at all Times a 
Right to form or alter a Constitution," 4 and that "ever since 
the Declaration of Independence, we conceive a great Part of 
our Constituents have been expecting that a new Constitution 
would be formed, or some Alterations made in the present." 5 
The opposition to the lower house was now voiced, for 
one, 6 by " Philadelphus " who claimed that " at this time, 

1 Cf. " Philadelphus" in Independent Chronicle, no. 452, April 17, 1777; . . . 
"every man within the State has his own sentiments upon government, and the 
minds of the people are more desonant upon this, than upon their mode of wor- 
ship, or any other subject : and every one who is disappointed in his notions or 
plan, or who shall not obtain his private views in the new mode, will affect to be 
abused, will collect a party, and call all the rest tyrants : And in the present 
situation of public affairs, if one sixth part of the people should be against the 
form fabricated by this venerable convention, it never could be rendered coercive." 

2 Mass. Archives, 158: 78. 

3 It was on April 29, 1777, that the house resolved, fifteen of the council con- 
curring, " That such unincorporated plantations as are Taxed to this State be and 
hereby are empowered to join in the choice of Representatives with such Town 
where they are taxed." Acts and Resolves of the Province of' Mass., V., 511, 
reprinted from Council Records, XXXVIT., 251. 

4 Mass. Archives, 158: 81-83. 

5 April 21, 1777; Mass. Archives, 158: 81-83. 

6 "Hannibal," who in the autumn of 1 776 favored a Constitution, writes: 
"But now it is wrong toto caelo /" all energy should be put on the war, and, at 



206 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH r 2 o6 

to begin a new mode of government, to set people by the 
ears in a contention about the rights of elections, to dissolve 
all government, to step into a state of nature, where there is 
no hopes [sic] of emerging from it, and to bring old chaos 
back again," could " be the work of only madmen or fools." 1 
On the other hand, the people of Massachusetts had already 
seen nine new constitutions of varying degrees of excellence, 
they had been able to read not only the general political 
pamphlets of the time but also, to a less extent, the special 
works of Carter Braxton 2 and John Dickinson on forms of 
government, and the writings of John Wise 3 on ecclesiastical 
polity ; they were acting as well as thinking along the lines 
of John Adams' " Thoughts on Government," 4 and of the 
tract entitled " The People the Best Governors." 5 To all 
appearances political education 6 was now sufficiently exten- 
sive and definite to equip the people for the special task be- 
fore them. The general and apparent readiness for the work 

all events, the General Assembly should never form a Constitution. Independent 
Chronicle, no. 457, May 22, 1777. Cf. " Marcus Brutus " in Independent Chron- 
icle, no. 446, July 17, 1777. 

1 Independent Chronicle, no. 452, April 17, 1777. 

2 See Sabin, Bibliotheca Americana, no. 7466. 

3 Cf. Dexter, Three Hundred Years of Congregationalism, 498, 501, 502* 
Tyler, History of American Literature, New York, 1879, II., 1 04-1 16. Clark, 
History of the Congregational Church- in Mass, 119. Doyle, 7 he Puritan 
Colonies, London, 1887, II., 486, 487. 

4 Printed in Essex Journal, no. 148, November I, 1776. Cf. 4 American 
Archives, IV., 1136-1140; Works of John Adams, IV., 189-200. See Sabin,. 
Bibliotheca Americana, no. 251. 

5 Cf. an article by the present writer on "The People the Best Governors," in 
The American Historical Review, vol. I., no. 2. 

6 The press was active in political matters; e.g.: the Independent Chronicle,. 
no. 446, Mar. 6, 1777, published a new constitution of 43 articles; the Boston 
Gazette, no. 1179, Dec. 22, 1777, published a four column "Constitution of the 
American Republic," by a confessedly obscure farmer; the 60 articles of this 
were written " all in the Interval between Ten o'Clock, A. M. and Two o'Clock, 
P. M." 



207] GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS 2 0y 

increased the weight of authority with which the lower house 
could speak; and, on May 5, the house bill passed the Gen- 
eral Court. By this it was recommended that the towns at 
the coming election should empower their representatives to 
take part as members of a constituent body, in the formation 
of a new constitution, to be submitted to the towns for their 
action, 1 and to be established by the General Court after hav- 
ing been approved by two-thirds of the freemen of the state, 
who were twenty-one years of age. 2 This proposed step met 
the immediate opposition of the capital. Not only were self- 
denying ordinances broached, but Boston as well suggested 
a special convention at a suitable time, and had "peculiarly 
in View making the Council intirely independent of the House, 
6° to prevent the lately too prevalent Custom of accumulating 
Offices in one Persone ; . . . ." 3 In spite of such and other 
opposition, the recommendation of the General Court was, 
in the May elections, adopted by a sufficient number of 
towns, and a majority 4 of representatives were returned fully 
authorized to share in the formation of a new constitu- 
tion. 5 

§ 2. Work of the Convention 
Pursuant to the act of May 5, 1777, the Massachusetts 

1 Cf. " Hints for a form of government," Fenn. Evening Post, II., 232, July 16, 
1776. 

2 Two original prints of this are in Mass. Archives, 213: 472, 473. The 
original drafts of the Resolution, with the disagreements, amendments, etc., are 
in Mass. Archives, 214: 3-9. 

3 This action of May 26, based on the vote of May 22, is in Report of Boston 
Record Commissioners, Boston 1'cwn Records, 1770— 1 777, 284-286. The In- 
structions of Boston to her Representatives are in Boston Gazette, no. J 150, 
June 2,1777; Connecticut Gazette, 7C8, June 6, 1777; Independent Chronicle, 
458, May 29, 1777; Almon's Remembrancer, 1777, 243-245. 

4 A. H. Bullock, Centennial of the Mass. Constitution, 12. 

5 Journal of the House of Representatives, Begun May 28, 1 '777, 15, 24, 25. 



208 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [208 

assembly of 1777 1 resolved itself, on June 17, 2 into a con- 
stituent convention, and, having effected an organization^ 
proceeded at once to the appointment of a special committee 4 
on the constitution. After the transfer thus to seventeen 
members of the main portion of the work in hand, the con- 
vention quietly awaited the committee's report. The sessions 
of the full convention occupied three more days in June, on 
the last of which, June 30, Samuel Adams, in Philadelphia, 
was writing to his friend Warren : " I find by the Newspapers 
that the Genl Assembly under the Denomination of a Con- 
vention are forming a new Constitution. This is a momen- 
tous Business. I pray God to direct you." 5 But the pro- 
gress of the constituent work was not rapid. 4 The convention 
sat at intervals, 6 and noted the lack of progress on the part 

1 An incomplete list of this Assembly is in the Boston Gazette, 11 50, June 2, 1777. 

2 Cf. Journal of the House of Representatives, Begun May 28, 1777, 27, 28. 
Few references to the convention appear in the house journal. Cf. Ibid., 29, 129. 

3 Jeremiah Powell was chosen Chairman, and Samuel PYeeman, Clerk. 

* According to James Savage, Constitution of Massachusetts, p. 8, five were 
chosen at large, and one of the remaining twelve was taken from each of the 
counties, except Dukes and Nantucket. 

On June 17, the Convention appointed to this Committee, Thos. Cushing, John 
Pickering, James Prescott, John Bliss, George Partridge, Daniel Davis, R. T. 
Paine, Jos. Simpson, Seth Washburn, Jeremiah Powell, J. Taylor, and John 
Bacon. On June 18 the Convention appointed James Warren, Azor Orne, Noah 
Goodman, Capt. Isaac Stone, and Eleazar Brooks, at large. Mass. Archives, 
156: 268-274. The list of the above seventeen is given in the Boston Gazette, 
June 23, 1777. Bradford, History of Mass., Boston, 1825, II., 140, gives a list of 
only twelve, four of the Council and eight of the House. 

Bullock, Centennial of the Massachusetts Constitution, 12, says: "It is one of 
the omissions in our annals that the proceedings of this committee were never 
given to public inspection." But James Savage had a copy of the journal of this 
committee; see James Savage, Constitution of Mass., 8. Bullock, op. cit., 12, 
calls this " a joint committee of the Council and assembly . . . ." 

5 S.Adams to [Jas. Warren], Philadelphia, June 30, 1 777. Adams Papers, 
IX., Bancroft Collection. 

6 After July, the Convention met on August 14; and also on September 18, 
when it ordered the Committee to meet as often as possible. 

The Convention met on October 2 and October 16, and on neither day was the 



2 09] G ° VERNMEN T IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 2 09 

of its committee. A contributor to the Massachusetts Spy T 
wrote, as early as September, that "we must soon expect 
some form or moddle of a Constitution." Still the committee 
needed much prodding, and its report was more than a fort- 
night distant when, on November 22, Samuel Otis wrote to 
Elbridge Gerry: "There is great expectation of a new form 
of government in our state. I hope it will be a good one, 
and an executive power will be lodged somewhere ; at present, 
if there is any, you would be puzzled to find it: hence the 
chariot wheels drag so slowly." 2 At last, on December 11, 
the committee made its report, 3 and asked leave to sit again. 
The convention, however, seized this opportunity and ordered 
300 copies of the report printed 4 solely for the use of mem- 
bers of the convention, and in January began the active 
consideration 5 of the contents. In the earlier half of that 
month nine days were given to the work, 6 in the course of 

Committee ready; on December 3 the Committee asked for more time. Mass. 
Archives, 156: 268-274. 

J " A. B." in the Mass. Spy, 332; Sept. 11., 1777. 

2 Samuel A. Otis, Boston, Nov. 22, 1777, to E. Gerry. J. T. Austin, Life of 
Elbridge Gerry, I., 266. 

3 " John Adams has been generally believed to have drawn up the first report to 
the general committee of both instruments; . . . ." T. C. Amory in New Eng- 
land Historic Genealogical Society, co??nne?norative proceedings, 26. According 
to W. V. Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, III., 1, 2, in the formation of this con- 
stitution John and Samuel Adams probably took no part. 

4 A copy of this edition of the report and of the Resolve of Dec. 11, 1777, an 
8 pp. pamphlet, is in the Spares Papers, XLIX., II., 329, Harvard College Library. 
A copy of the same, printed on large paper, with the clerk's minutes in the mar- 
gin, is in Mass. Archives, 156: 202-210. A manuscript of the same, possibly as 
used in sending the matter to the press, is in Mass. Archives, 156 : 211-233. -A- 
second manuscript is in Mass. Archives, 156: 230-263. 

5 The Resolve of Dec. 11, 1777, had postponed consideration of the report 
until the second Thursday of the next session of the Assembly. 

6 Alden Bradford, History of Massachusetts, Boston, 1 825, II., 140, says the com- 
mittee reported a draft of a constitution to the Assembly m January, 1778. With 



2io FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH \210 

which eight articles were accepted, one adopted with slight 
change, and three recommitted; 1 a fourth, article 24, was, on 
January 31, recommitted to a special committee of nine. 
The report 2 of this committee was adopted on February 3, 
and involved a rejection of the theories and claims of those 
who would accord equal representation to all towns ; this 
action was emphasized on the same day by the refusal of the 
convention to approve the granting even of a single repre- 
sentative to every incorporated town. The latter action, 
however, was subsequently revoked by the convention when 
less fully attended. 3 

The proceedings of the constituent body occupied the 
greater part of February ; but their course was marked by few 
acts of special note. The governor was denied the veto pow r er, 4 
freedom of conscience and worship was granted to Protestants, 
and the assembly was denied the power to revise, at intervals 
of seven years, the apportionment of representation. By an 

equal inaccuracy, he says, Ibid., II., 158, that the same committee reported a 
draft of a constitution to the Assembly in December, 1777, and that this was not 
considered by the Assembly until February, 1778. 

1 The Convention accepted Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, on Jan. 15, Articles 7, 8, 9, on 
Jan. 16. Article 12 was passed without the 65-year age limit on Jan. 23. Arti- 
cles 6, 10, and 11 were recommitted. Mass. Archives, 156: 274-282. 

2 This report included the apportionment of one representative to every town of 
100 voters; 2 representatives to 300 voters; 3 representatives to 520 voters; 4 rep- 
resentatives to 760 voters, and so up to 20 representatives for 7320 or more voters. 
An increment of 20 was added at each step to the additional number of voters 
required for an additional representative. This report was accepted, "81-134." 
Mass. Archives, 156:283-285. 

3 In connection with Article 24, an effort was made, and defeated, on February 
26, to give every town one representative, and two representatives for a town of 
500 voters, and so an extra representative for each additional 5CO voters. Mass. 
Archives, 156: 288-290. The Convention, on February 29, voted that each town 
should pay and send to the Assembly one representative. The vote was probably 
66 out of 93. Mass. Archives, 156: 291-293. 

4 On February, 24, by order of the Convention, Messrs. Cushing and Pickering 
reported : " The Governor shall have no negative." 



2 1 1 1 G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 2 1 1 

ominously scant vote 1 the whole document was accepted 2 
on February 28. It was ordered to be arranged, and 600 
copies were printed for distribution ; and on March 6 the 
committee on this latter work was directed to have the con- 
stitution printed in all the Boston papers. 3 " Then the Con- 
vention 4 was dissolved." By a resolution 5 of March 4 the 
assembly submitted the newly formed constitution to the ac- 
tion of the freemen in their town-meetings, and suggested 
the propriety of empowering the representatives in the next 
assembly to establish the constitution, in case it should have 
been approved by the people. 

The document thus offered to the people was the 
eleventh constitution which had been formed by recognized 
authority during the revolutionary period, and the first upon 
which an opportunity of action and expression was granted 
to the voting population. It was merely a collection of thirty- 
six unclassified articles, preceded by a resolution of the con- 
stituent body. The latter mentioned the Declaration of 
Independence, and quotation was made from the resolution 
of the assembly of May 5, 1777, making clear the authoriza- 
tion of the council and house to act together as a constituent 
body and to submit to the people the constitution they had 

1 39 out of 53. 

2 Bullock, Centennial of Mass. Constitution, p. 12, loosely and inaccurately says 
it "was approved by the two bodies February 28th, 1778, . . ." 

3 The Constitution and the Assembly Resolve of March 4 were published in the 
Boston Gazette, no. 1229, March 23, 1778, with no comment except that some ad- 
vertisements were crowded out. See the Constitution also in the Independent 
Chronicle, no. 500, March 19, 1778, and in the Mass. Spy,ViO. 361, April 2, 1778. 
The Constitution and the Assembly Resolve of March 4, 1778, were published in 
1778, at Boston, by J. Gill, Printer to the General Assembly. A copy of this 
pamphlet is in the Library of Harvard College. The Constitution has been 
printed in Journal of the Convention of 1779- 'So, Boston, 1832, 255-264. 

4 The Proceedings are in Mass. Archives, 156: 268-293. 

5 The original is in Mass. Archives, 217 : 292-294. 



212 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [212 

formed. In the constitution itself appeared no preamble, 
aside from what has been already indicated ; nor did it con- 
tain a declaration of rights. There was no assurance of general 
religious freedom or of civil liberty. There was no declara- 
tion concerning the nature or the theory of the state. The 
provisions concerning the organization of government 
were not of unusual excellence. An annual bicameral 
legislature was established ; the basis of representation was 
for each house distinct. For the lower house the principle 
of town representation obtained ; every incorporated town 
was " entitled " to one representative, a town of 300 voters 
might send two, a town of 520 voters might send three; the 
increment necessary to secure an additional representative 
being at each advance increased by twenty. The number of 
senators, however, was fixed at twenty-eight, chosen un- 
equally from four districts. Both the representatives and 
senators were to be voted for at the May elections, but in the 
case of the latter preliminary steps were required as well. 
These were that in November of each year the voters in town- 
meetings should nominate for each district candidates to be 
considered at the May elections. The result of such nomi- 
nation by ballot should be submitted to the General Court, 
from which was returned, for final choice at the subsequent 
spring elections, a list of those highest on the list of nominees 
and double the number of senators assigned to the respect- 
ive districts. In the election of representatives the franchise 
was granted to every free male of full age, 1 who had paid 
taxes, unless excused, and who had resided one full year 
preceding the election in the town where he claimed the 
right to vote ; or who, in broad terms, was one of whom 
"such town has been his known and usual place of abode for 
that time, or that he is considered as an inhabitant thereof ; 
. . . ." The electors of the governor, lieutenant-governor, 

1 The franchise, however, was withheld from negroes, Indians, and mulattoes. 



213] G ° V ER NMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 2 1 3 

and senators, should be similarly qualified, but should in ad- 
dition be " worth sixty pounds, clear of all charges thereon, 
. . . ." It was required that senators and representatives 1 
should have been, for one year preceding the election, in- 
habitants of the districts or towns they represented. Each 
member of the upper house, furthermore, should own an es- 
tate of ^400, at least one-half of which should be realty in 
the district he represented ; and each member of the lower 
house should own an estate of at least ^200, one-half of 
which should be realty in the town represented. To the 
bodies thus created were granted the usual privileges of 
control over their own procedure, and the usual functions, 
the lower house receiving important special powers, among 
which was that of originating all money bills, which should 
" be concurred or non-concurred in whole by the Senate." 
To the General Court was assigned the creation of judicial 
courts, but it was provided that the judges should hold office 
during good behavior, and from the terms used it was 
apparent that a continuation of the previously existing 
system was intended. 

The chief of the executive department, the governor, was 
to be elected annually on the franchise already indicated ; his 
own qualifications were to be a residence in the state for five 
years preceding his election, and the possession of an estate 
of £1000, at least one-half of which was to be realty within the 
commonwealth. A further qualification of importance, which 
applied as well to the lieutenant-governor, the senators, repre- 
sentatives, and all judicial officers, was that they should be- 
lieve in the Protestant religion. The executive, furthermore, 
was peculiarly limited. The power of pardon, thus, was vested 

1 A seat in the General Court was refused to Judges of the Superior Court, Sec- 
retary, Treasurer General, Commissary General, and settled Ministers of the Gos- 
pel, and military officers under pay; a seat in the Senate was refused to Judges 
and Registers of Probate. Art. 4. 



214 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [214 

in the governor, lieutenant-governor and speaker of the house, 
or any two of them. The governor's powers as head of the 
military forces were placed under the control of the General 
Court. The power of the executive to prorogue the General 
Court during a recess, to issue public money by warrant, 
and in most cases the appointing power, were modified by 
the provision which made it compulsory for the governor to 
act on the advice of the senate. Of this body the governor, 
as such, was a member with voting power, and it was pro- 
vided that he should have " no negative, as Governor, in any 
matter pointed out by this constitution to be done by the 
Governor and Senate," although for the transaction of busi- 
ness the presence of himself or of the lieutenant-governor 
was necessary. 

For the less • important functions of government im- 
perfect provision was made in several further disconnected 
articles. The common law and the statute law previously 
recognized in the courts were to remain in force, " and all 
parts of such law as refer to and mention the council shall 
be construed to extend to the Senate." Complete in some 
particulars, in others the document was inadequate either to 
meet the needs of the situation or to coincide with the ideals 
of the public, as soon was made plain in the action of the 
towns. 

§3. Submission of the Constitution 

In no series of acts had the provisional governments 
shown the possibilities of their position more distinctly than 
in the manner in which the newly formed constitutions 
were promulgated or established. Sufficient care was not 
taken by the controlling powers to secure final sanction 
by the people. The seriousness of such arbitrary pro- 
cedure cannot be underestimated, although at the time an 
harmonious majority waived all questions of propriety in 
view of the greater problem involving their very existence as 



215] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 2 1 5 

political societies ; regardless of constitutional details, practi- 
cal unity 'of action must be assured, and the state, as they 
conceived it, must be preserved. To effect this the majority 
must express unopposed the will of the whole political 
society; the minority must be unheard, unfelt. Thus with 
warfare on all sides, with tories in many sections, with booming 
of British guns often audible even in a constituent convention, 
it was certainly a time when the " disaffected " minority 
should be kept silent. To prevent the possibility of any ex- 
pression from this quarter, was the need of the politician ; to 
meet this difficulty, and to respond to the further exigencies 
of the time, the salutary, even if thoroughly arbitrary, prac- 
tice just mentioned was adopted. The shifting of the seat of 
war relieved Massachusetts of one of the strong reasons for 
such procedure; the unity and patriotism of her population 
removed any fear of an actually hostile minority ; and the exist- 
ence already of a frame of government which was useful for 
temporary purposes freed the attempt to change the govern- 
mental system from any danger of violence at the hands of 
the minority. Breaking wholly with the past, and yielding 
to the desires of the people which had been distinctly stated, 
the assembly of Massachusetts made suitable arrangements 
for the submission of this new constitution of 1778 to the 
people. In accordance with the direction of the assembly, 
the constitution was transmitted to the various boards of 
selectmen, whose duty it became both to submit the docu- 
ment to the voters assembled in town-meeting and to make 
official return to the secretary of the commonwealth of the 
action taken thereon by the town. 

The opportunity thus afforded for local action w r as quickly 
developed into an occasion for definite and vigorous expres- 
sion of local sentiment. Seldom was the return of a local 
vote unaccompanied by some plain criticism or blunt sug- 
gestion ; so that for the varied actions of the towns ample 



2i6 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ 2 i6 

and equally various reasons were given, all expressing the 
opinions of the majority of voters in each locality with clear- 
ness sufficient for their own satisfaction. In the announce- 
ment of general theories and the argument on local advan- 
tages may be read the popular indictment of the proffered 
constitution. No demand was more general than that for a 
bill of rights which should embody the best results of ex- 
perience and the highest impulses of the present ; a statement 
which, as the town of Beverly instructed its representative, 
" we conceive, ought to describe the Natural Rights of Man 
as he inherits them from the Great Parents of Nature, dis- 
tinguishing those, the Controul of which he may part with to 
Society for Social Benefits from those he cannot;" 1 or which, 
" Clearly Asserting the rights of the people, as men, Chris- 
tians, & Subjects, Ought to have Preceeded the Constitu- 
tion, and these Rights should be Express'd in the fullest and 
and most unequivocal, terms." 2 So the town of Greenwich 
early rejected the instrument as it " Intirely Divests the 
good People of this State of Many of the Priviledges which 
God and Nature has Given them, "3 and its vote was con- 
firmed by the action of many other towns. Incomplete 
theoretically, the constitution was deemed practically ineffect- 
ive and indefensible. The improper composition of the 
convention, the illegal action of some of its members, 4 
and the absence of any mode of amendment " Except by 
Coercion and Violence," 5 were a few among many facts serv- 

1 June i, 1778, Mass. Archives, 156: 429-432. 

2 Plymouth, May 18- June 1, 1778. Mass. Archives, 156: 426. 

8 May 5, 1778. Mass. Archives, 156: 275. 

* E. g. : " A By-Stander," advising the Convention : " Within the walls of your 
house, gentlemen, there are those who were never empowered by the electors to 
assisting in forming a Constitution; . . . ." Independent Chronicle, no. 492* 
Jan. 22, 1778. 

5 Plymouth Committee Report, May 18- June 1, 1778. Mass. Archives, 156 : 426. 



217] G0 V ERNME NT IN MASS A CHU SETTS 2 1 7 

ing to- emphasize the opportunity, which was readily taken, 
for searching and severe criticism. Thus even little Peter- 
sham proposed, among other things, to economize by elect- 
ing a senate from the house, suggested a property qualifica- 
tion for electors and an increased quorum in each house, 1 
objected to a final negative in either house, grappled with 
the problem of corruption, decried even such titles as gov- 
ernor and lieutenant-governor, and expressed its purpose "to 
put a stopt to the first seeds of eclesiastical tyranny;" for 
" Lords Spiritual soon become Lords Temporal. . . " 2 

Very creditable was the thoroughness of the considera- 
tion, 3 as well as the confident directness of the instructions 
given to the representatives. Attention was called to a 
great variety of excellences and defects. Thus some would 
even advocate the abolition of the offices of governor and 
lieutenant-governor, and of the senate; 4 others girded them- 
selves for a vigorous contest over the relations between 
church and state ; 5 still others urged the inconsistency of grant- 
ing a voice either in sanctioning or disapproving the con- 

1 Cf. Result of the Convention at Ipswich, p. 5. 

2 Mass Spy, no. 368, May 21, 1778. 

3 The town of Royalston, in its meetings of April 9, May 4, and May 27, adopted 
and recommended a new constitution of 35 articles. Mass. Archives, 156 : 306-317. 

" An Old Roman " who plans to " follow the vestigia and traces of nature, 
. . ." published a new constitution, in the Boston Gazette, no. 1230, April 13, 1778, 
in which provision was made for one legislative chamber and no real executive. 
Cf. Lexington, June 15. Mass. Archives, 160: 24. Cf. Boothbay, May 20. 
Mass. Archives, 156: 368-373. 

4 Cf Greenwich, May 5. Mass. Archives, 156: 275. Cf Independent Chron- 
icle, 501, Mar. 26, 1778, where " Occolampadius " objected to Gov., Lt. Gov., and 
Council, and proposed the appointment of town officers by the towns and of 
county officers by county conventions. 

5 Cf. Letter by " Mentor " in Boston Gazette, Jan. 26, 1778; letters by " Hierony- 
mus" in /foV/., Nov. 2, 1778, Dec. 28, 1778, Jan. 18, 1779; letters by Isaac Backus 
in Ibid., Dec. 14, 1778, Feb. 22, 1779; cf Ibid., Feb. 1, 1779, et passim. 

Cf. Isaac Backus, A Church History of New England, Providence, 1784, II., 322. 



2 1 8 f# OM PR O VINCIAL TO COMMONWEAL TH [ 2 1 8 

stitution to those black and copper colored persons who 
were to be by it forever afterwards disfranchised. 1 " A 
Watchman" voiced a proper sentiment when he com- 
plained that an insufficient period was allowed for public 
consideration of the document. 1 The height of philosophy 
and philanthropy was attained by the men of Georgetown 
when they offered their objection " because in the Fifth a 
man being born in Africa, India or ancient America or even 
being much Sun burnt deprived him of having a Vote for 
Representative." 2 On the more positive side appeared a 
variety of suggestions about the exercise of the constituent 
power, the composition of the legislative bodies, 3 and 
the basis of representation. A demand was made for rota- 
tion in office; 4 and a clearer demarcation between executive 
and legislative functions was proposed. 5 To many minds, 

1 Cf. Mass. Spy, no. 364, April 23, 1778. 

2 May 25, 1778, Mass. Archives, 156: 407. 

Sutton, May 18, voted that this article seemed "to wear a very gross complex - 
tion of slavery," and to be repugnant to the "grand and Fundamental maxim of 
Human Rights, viz. ' That Law to boind all must be assented to by all.' " Mass. 
Archives, 156: 347-358. 

"The complexion of the fifth article is blacker than that of any African, . . ." 
wrote Dr. Gordon, under date of April 2, 1778, in Continental Journal, no. 98, 
April 9, 1778. 

3 On one line in this connection an extreme was reached when Rehoboth, June 
1, 1778, proposed a law " enabling each town in this State at any time, to elect a 
Representative or Representatives to represent them in the great Convention or 
General Court, and thereby to recall their former Representative or Representa- 
tives as the pleasure of any town may be, or to add to their present number simi- 
lar to the power of this State, of sending or recalling their Delegates to or from 
the honorable Congress, . . . ." Continental Journal and Weekly Advertiser, 
CXLL, Feb. 4, 1779. 

4 Cf. Mass. Spy, no. 377, July 23, 1778. 

5 "I shall attempt to convince you, that the placing the legislative and executive 
powers in the same hands is unconstitutional, impolitic, oppressive and absurd." 
"O. P. Q." in Mass. Spy, no. 266, May 18, 1776. 

Cf. : "It is essential to Liberty that the legislative, judicial, & executive 



219] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 2 1 9 

however, the crucial point was the article on the basis of rep- 
resentation. The town of Boston, after denying the pro- 
priety of the action of the assembly on constituent matters 
and after dwelling on the lack of a bill of rights, declared, as 
to its third point, that " reason, justice and common sense, 
must be tortured to a great degree to accept that representa- 
tion, as equal which may be as ten or twenty to one!' l 
Boston's rejection of the document was unanimous; 2 and 
with Boston went the state. It was not, however, as 
" Philadelphus" had prophesied, 3 a contest over the suffrage 
between the property holders and others. If a single utter- 
ance may be taken as a correct description of the cause and 
course of action in the campaign, it was doubtless that of 
Samuel Cooper when he sent to Franklin a "printed copy of 
our proposed constitution, which," he wrote, " has been re- 
jected in a very full meeting of this Town, and is like to be 
by many others for different reasons ; particularly, because 
in the opinion of the maritime towns, Representation is too 
unequal, 4 while in the opinion of others it is too nearly 
equal." 5 The ready estimates of possible disproportion 
between the taxes paid by various sections and their 
population and representation in future legislatures devel- 
oped a strong argument for one party; on the other 

Powers of Government be, as nearly as possibly, independent of & separate 
from each other; . . . ." Instructions of Boston town-meeting, May 23, 30, 
1776, to representatives. Boston Town Records, XVIII., 238. 

1 May 25, 1778. Independent Chronicle, no. 511, June 4, 1778. Wm. Gordon 
wrote that "such is the plan in the sixth article, that no power or wisdom can 
make it equal, that excepted which formed a beautiful world out of a chaos." 
Independent Chronicle, no. 504, April 16, 1778. Cf. Essex Result, 4. 

2 The vote was 968-0. Independent Chronicle, no. 511, June 4, 1778. Boston 
Town Records, XXVI., 22-24. 

3 Independent Chronicle, no. 452, April 17, 1777. 

4 Cf. Debates and Proceedings of the Convention of 1833, I., 818, 819. 

5 June 1, 1778. Copy in Sparks Papers, XVI., 252, 253. 



220 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ 2 20 

hand the opposing party were firm in the demands of the 
present; 1 and the effect of the antagonism of interests com- 
plicated by the diversity of political theories was not merely 
a failure to secure the approbation of two-thirds of the voters, 
but a hearty and decisive rejection. 2 

In this whole movement Boston had been a center of 
strong opposition ; and of its writers none had been more 
facile and effective than the clergyman of Roxbury, William 
Gordon, who had already written widely and well on the 
politics of the time. He now directed against the proposed 
constitution a series of four comparatively moderate but 
weighty articles, 3 the first of which, treating in a somewhat 
incisive manner the conduct of the General Court, occasioned 
his summary removal from the office of chaplain to that 

1 As to division of parties on lines of personal following about this time, see 
Durand, New Materials for History of American Revolution, 18, 19. 

2 " Boston, October 8. We hear that the return made to the General Court 
from the several towns and plantations respecting the constitution of government 
lately agreed upon by the convention of this State, are as follows, viz. : Yeas 
2083. Nays 9972. N. B. 129 towns and plantations have made no return." 
Mass. Spy, no. 389, Oct. 15, 1778. Works of John Adams, IV., 214, gives 120 
as the number of towns not reporting. The votes of 39 towns on the consti- 
tution as submitted are given in full in Mass. Archives, 160: 1-31. Considering 
126 towns, only one county (Barnstable) gave a majority for the constitution; 
there was a unanimous vote for the constitution in 4 towns, a unanimous vote 
against it in 57 towns. Savage, Constitution of Mass., p. 8. Of these four 
favorable towns, the vote of Hardwick, May 19, 1778, was 68-0. Lincoln 
Papers. 

The house members of the joint committee to examine the returns were Col. 
Brown of Pittsfield, Col. Brown of Reading, and Capt. Brown of Watertown; 
they were appointed June 17,1778. The committee, somewhat changed in the 
interval, made its report October 8, 1778. Journal of House of Representa- 
tives. 

On May 31, 1778, James Warren, wrote to Samuel Adams: "... with 
regard to the Constitution I am of the Opinion it will not prevail, & that An- 
archy & Confusion will take place before we have one settled . . . ." Adams 
Papers, Bancroft Collection. 

3 These letters are in the Independent Chronicle, nos. 502, 503, 504, 506; 
April 2,9, 16, 30, 1778. 



2 2 I ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CH USE TTS 2 2 1 

body. 1 These articles contained not only a discussion of the 
liberal treatment by the convention of the resolve adopted 
by the assembly on May 5, 1777, but also an objection to 
the establishment by two-thirds of those now actually exer- 
cising the suffrage, of a constitution that could be altered 
only by two-thirds of those who by it were qualified to vote. 2 
The proposal of a triple nomination by the governor and 
senate to each office which was to be filled by the house of 
representatives was also the object of unfavorable criticism. 
Further, in the main, his remarks were only one expression 
among many on the leading points then under discussion, 
such as religion, representation, and suffrage ; but his prom- 
inence in press and pulpit gave a special influence to his 
words. 

In the third letter of this series Gordon alluded to an event 
which can easily be conceived to have been the main cause 
of the general dissatisfaction with the constitution of 1778, 
and which, with the activity of Boston, has given to the coast 
districts the credit, or discredit, of the defeat of the plan it 
contained. " I rejoice," he wrote, " that a county Conven- 
tion is likely to be held in Essex," 3 and the day before this 
appeared in print the Essex county convention had begun 
its work at Ipswich. When the town of Newburyport, on 
March 27, took a definite stand against the newly proposed 
method of representation, it asked its selectmen to suggest a 
county convention to which each town should send as many 
delegates as each sent representatives to the house. Theo- 
philus Parsons 4 and four associates were appointed as dele- 

5 Cf Journal of the House of Representatives, April 4, 6, 1778. 

2 Gloucester, April 13, adopted report of a committee noting the inconsistency 
of two-thirds of the freemen establishing a constitution, and two-thirds of the 
inhabitants altering it. Lincoln Papers. 

3 Independent Chronicle, no. 504, April 16, 1778. 

i As to the convention, Theophilus Parsons, Jr., wrote : " It originated in New- 
buryport, and I have been repeatedly told that my father began it; but I have no 
evidence of this." Memoir of Theophilus Parsons, 47. 



222 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ 2 22 

gates from Newburyport. April 15 was fixed as the time, 
and Mr. Treadwell's tavern at Ipswich 1 as the place, of meet- 
ing. Some towns, including at first Danvers 2 and Beverly, 3 
did not join in the program ; but a dozen towns took some 
such action as that of Gloucester, when Peter Coffin and two 
associates were appointed to attend the convention " to ad- 
vise some decent and proper methods in which all the free- 
men of this state may enjoy a form of Government consonant 
to the natural rights of mankind and the principles of a free 
Constitution." 4 

At Ipswich, at the time appointed, more than a score 
of delegates assembled, 5 but they placed themselves on 
record in no important action until the session of April 29, 
when a series of eighteen resolutions was passed summariz- 
ing the case against the constitution, and a committee was 
appointed to show the lack of agreement between that docu- 
ment and the views thus expressed, and to outline, as well, a 
new form of government. On May 12 the report of this com- 
mittee was made and was approved by the convention. The 
earlier resolutions and the report of the committee were at 

1 A sketch of the various proceedings of the town of Ipswich in the years 1 775 — 
1780 is given in Felt, History of Ipswich, 132-134. 

2 April 13, 1778; Lincoln Papers. 

3 But both Danvers and Beverly subsequently acceded to the action of the con- 
vention; see Mass. Archives, 156: 192-196. 

^Lincoln Papers. 

5 A list of 28 delegates, representing 12 towns (nine towns not being reported), 
is given in Me?noir of Theophilus Parsons, 49, 50. 

Of the proceedings of this convention only two half sheets were subsequently 
preserved; these were owned by Theophilus Parsons, Jr.; see his Memoir of 
Theophilus Parsons, 50. They contained the vote in opposition to Art. 34 of the 
Declaration of Rights, "because the free exercise and enjoyment of religious pro- 
fession and worship are there said to be allowed to all the Protestants in this 
State, when in fact that free exercise and enjoyment is the natural and incon- 
trollable right of every member of the State." Quoted in Ibid., p. 50. 



223] G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 223 

once published 1 in a pamphlet of 68 pages, which through- 
out the summer served as a strong weapon for the oppo- 
nents of the constitution. In this so-called " Essex Result" 2 
were gathered all the stronger elements of the political teach- 
ings of the past; in it was expressed at its best the oppo- 
sition to the constitution of 1778; and with it opened the 
new period which was to see the successful establishment of 
the constitution of 1780. This product of the convention 
was a striking example of the intellectual activity of the time, 
while even in the broader field it formed a land-mark that 
still stands, containing, as Judge White later wrote, 3 " beyond 
any other political document of that day, a clear exposition 
of the principles upon which the organic laws of a free state 
should be founded, — the*very principles essentially adopted 
in forming the Constitution of Massachusetts." 4 Savage 
tersely called it " the most admirable condensation of politi- 
cal wisdom, that our country, or perhaps any country, in so 
small compass had ever produced." 5 

Eleven principles were by this committee adduced as those 
which then seemed to be established. The first was that the 
supreme power was limited to the control of those alienable 
rights surrendered by a man when he entered society; so- 

1 A large edition was printed. Memoir of Theophilus Parsons, 47. 

2 Newbury-Port, Printed and Sold by John Mycall. The text has been re- 
printed in Memoir of '1 heophilus /'arsons, 359-402. 

3 To T. Parsons, Sept. 15, 1858; Memoir of Theophilus Parsons, 454, 455. 

* The Independent Chronicle, no. 512, June II, 1778, had an advertisement of 
the " Essex Result," which included : " In this excellent Performance, the Prin- 
ciples of a free republican Form of Government have been attempted, some 
Reasons in support of them mentioned the out Lines of Constitution have been 
delineated in Conformity to tbem, and the Objections to the Form of Government 
proposed to the People at large, for their Acceptance or Rejection, have been 
stated." 

5 Savage, Constitution of Massachusetts, 8. For a further characterization, see 
Memoir of Theophilus Parsons, 53. 



224 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [224 

ciety was " one moral whole" possessing supreme power. 
"This supreme power is composed of the powers of each 
individual collected together, and VOLUNTARILY parted with 
by him. No individual, in this case, parts with his unalien- 
able rights, the supreme power therefore cannot controul 
them." J Their second principle was that the inalienable 
rights and the equivalent of those alienated must be clearly 
expressed before any constitution can be ratified. " Over 
the class of unalienable rights the supreme power hath no 
controul, and they ought to be clearly defined and ascer- 
tained in a Bill OF Rights, previous to the ratification of 
any constitution. The bill of rights should also contain the 
equivalent every man receives, as a consideration for the 
rights he has surrendered." 2 Recognition was given the 
wisdom of securing the inter-balancing of the three depart- 
ments of government and the independence of each. The 
executive was declared to be most effective if vested in one 
or a few; the enactment of laws, however, was improved by 
the concurrence of men of all classes ; yet elsewhere they 
described the law-making body as "the whole body politic, 
with all its property, rights, and priviledges, reduced to a 
smaller scale," 3 and furthermore said that " it is necessary 
that the law be for the good of the whole, which is to be de- 
termined by a majority of the members, and that majority 
should include those, who possess a major part of the prop- 
erty in the state." 4 Their series of principles included refer- 
ence to the rights of the majority, and an insistence upon the 
necessity of equal political liberty; "political liberty," they 

1 Essex Result, 13, 14. 

2 Ibid., 15. On page 16 it is stated: "Allegiance and protection are recip- 
rocal." 

3 Ibid., 29. 

4 Ibid., 23. On page 28 it is said that a law affecting persons or property to be 
valid should have the consent of a majority, " which majority should include 
those, who hold a major part of the property in the state." 



225] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 2 2$ 

say elsewhere, " is the right every man in the state has, to do 
whatever is not prohibited by laws, TO WHICH HE GIVES HIS 
CONSENT." 1 

The consideration of the proposed constitution by the 
authors of the Essex Result was in such detail 2 that their ob- 
jections were convincing. 3 Many specific points were treated 
and the committee finally were "compelled, though reluct- 
antly, to say, that some of the principles upon which it is 
founded, appeared to them inconsonant, not only to the 
natural rights of mankind, but to the fundamental condition 
of the original social contract, and the principles of a free 
republican government." 4 An excellent statement of the 

1 Essex Result, 14. 

2 E.g. As to Article 2, objection is made to the governor's membership in the 
senate. As to Article 3, it is held that the property qualification of the governor 
is too small, and that the value of an estate is not well determined, the currency 
varying as it does. Essex Result, 41. 

As to Article 10, the mode of electing the governor is said to be conducive to 
bribery and corruption; they aim to prove this by referring to a similar mode 
earlier in use in Rhode Island, where the governor retained his office by open 
bribery. Essex Result, 43, 44. 

Objection is made that the quorum in each house is too small; it is held that 
every officer should be subject to impeachment. The articles of the document are 
taken up seriati?n in the report of this committee, resulting thus in the presenta- 
tion of much detail. 

3 E.g.: As to Article 6, the plan of representation is said to be "grossly un- 
equal" and "flagrantly unjust;" thus 20 towns might have 40 representatives 
and one town of sufficient size might have 19 representatives; it would be possible 
for about one-twelfth of the representatives to bind the whole state; in a century 
the house would be a " mere mob." Essex Result, 42, 43. 

Objection is made that the constitution " was formed by gentlemen, who, at the 
same time, had a large share in conducting an important war, and who were 
employed in carrying into execution almost all the various powers of government." 
Essex Result, 7, 8. 

It is maintained that the executive checks on the legislative department are not 
sufficient to prevent encroachments. " Without this check the legislative power 
will exercise the executive, and in a series of years the government will be as 
absolute as that of Holland." Essex Result, 46. 

4 Essex Result, 41. 



226 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [226 

situation was presented, 1 and the foresight so characteristic 
of the times was indicated in the words : " We are not at- 
tempting to form a temporary constitution, one adjusted 
only to our present circumstances." 2 

1 E. g.: " Perhaps their situation is more favorable in some respects, for erect- 
ing a free government, than any other people were ever favored with. That at- 
tachment to old forms, which usually embarrasses, has not place amongst them. 
They have the history and experience of all States before them." Essex Result, 
11. Cf. Ibid., 10. They further say : "The voice of the people is said to be the 
voice of God. No man will be so hardy and presumptuous, as to affirm the truth 
of that important proposition in it's fullest extent." Essex Resul', 17. 

2 Essex Result, 19. Contemporary mention of this pamphlet is seen in the 
report, of 23 pages, of the action of the town of Northampton, May 22, 1780, on 
the constitution. As to woman's suffrage, they "refer to what is very sensibly, 
as well as genteelly said on the subject, in the twenty-ninth page of the Essex 
result." Mass. Archives. Reference was made to page 9 of the " Result," " as 
to the case of women, of whatever age, or condition, . . . ." A draft of the 
report is in Haivley Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. 

Richard Frothingham, Jr., said in 1853 : " I know of no early document which 
is so remarkable in its character as is that report — known as the Essex Result." 
Debates and Proceedings of the Convention 0/1833, !•» 606. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1780 

§1. Preliminary Action 

The rejection of the constitution of 1778 and the conse- 
quent doubt of the General Court thereafter as to " what are 
the sentiments of the major part of the good People of this 
State, as to the expediency of now proceeding to form a new 
Constitution of Government," 1 prompted the house 2 to resolve, 
on February 19, 1779, 3 that all who were qualified to vote 
for representatives should be called to vote on or before the 
last Wednesday of May 1779, 4 and that on two points: first, 

1 Journal fthe Convention, . . . I77g, . . . 1780. . . . Boston, 1832^.189. 

2 The legislative preliminaries of this step are in Journal of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, Jan. 6-Mav 3, 1779, 72, 129, 145, 147. Cf Ibid., 159. 

3 Already several town committees had met at Capt. Israel Hubbard's "to Con- 
sult on Some proper method of Setting forward, and procureing a Constitution of 
Civil Goverment for y e State of Massachusetts Bay. 1 ' Writing from Sunderland, 
Dec. 16, 1778, they asked the Northampton committee to fix a time and place for 
a county convention, " and in so doing we trusi you will do a signal publick ser- 
vice." They were unanimously " of y e opinion y l y e present mode of civil Gover- 
ment in this County, & State (all circumstances considerd) in many instances 
not for y e peace and safety of this state." " N. B. We write this to you Gentle- 
men — because we understand you are supposed by y e County to stand in y l pub- 
lick place — y l any Town or towns desireing a County Convention may write to 
you — if not we earnestly desire you would do it." Hawley Papers, II., Bancroft 
Collection. 

At Chesterfield, March 30, 1779, some town committees of Western Hampshire 
county issued a call for a county convention to be held at Northampton April 20, 
and asked the county to " Bear Testimony against a Constitution without a Name 
& Legislation without Law." Hawley Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. 

4 Journal of the Convention, 189, 190. On the first Wednesday in May, 
according to the Boston Gazette, no. 1 285, April 12, 1 779. 

227J 227 



228 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH ["228 

whether they desired that a new constitution should then be 
made; and, second, whether, if the vote on the first point 
should be found to have resulted affirmatively, they would 
empower their representatives to call a convention for the sole 
purpose of forming such a constitution. 1 The council on the 
succeeding day concurred, 2 and the first Wednesday in June 
was appointed as the day before which the boards of select- 
men should have reported to the secretary of the common- 
wealth. The returns 3 then submitted showed a favorable 
response to both propositions, and accordingly, on June 17, 
the General Court resolved, 4 as two-thirds of the towns 5 had 
returned a majority favorable to the resolve of February 20, 
to recommend a convention, which should be of the same 
size as the General Court, and which should meet at Cam- 
bridge on September 1 and begin the work of forming a new 
constitution. It was further resolved that the selectmen of 
the towns should call town-meetings, to be held at least four- 
teen days before September 1, for the election of convention 
delegates by " every Freeman, Inhabitant of such town, who 
is twenty one years of age," and further that the next house 
of representatives be instructed to establish the constitution 
when ratified by two-thirds of the free male inhabitants, who 

1 Journal of the Convention, . . . 189, 190. 

2 The resolution is in the Boston Gazette, no. 1285, April 12, 1779. 

3 Many returns were made on the single sheets on which had been printed the 
Resolve of Feb. 20. Some original returns are in Mass. Archives, 160: 32 et sea. 

4 House bill of June 15. Journal of the Convention, 5, 6. 

5 In connection with the units of voting, attention should be called to the Re- 
solve of April 29, 1779, granting to unincorporated plantations paying taxes the 
privilege of joining in the election of representatives with the towns in which 
they were taxed. Mass. Archives, 213: 409. 

As to the system of representation, the town of Petersham, on May 22, asked 
the General Court to repeal the late Act of Representation, as favorable to the 
trading class and harmful to the interests of manufacturers and real estate. Mass. 
Archives, 185: 167, 168. Cf. Boston Town Records, XXVI., C3. 



229] G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 2 2 9 

were twenty-one years old, and were acting in town-meet- 
ings called for the purpose. 

The response to this action of the General Court was in 
most cases a simple return 1 of delegates ; but several, includ- 
ing Boston, further insisted, among other things, upon a 
strict observance of the legislative resolve providing for the 
submission of printed copies of the constitution for local ac- 
tion, and a few towns took the opportunity to instruct their 
delegates upon various matters of equally varied import- 
ance. 2 Some towns endeavored to establish a reputation for 
political intelligence. Stoughton, thus, treated the problem 
of a biennial council of censors, dwelt at length on the 
matter of a bill of rights, on the source of power, on the 
triple division of government; and proposed a series of 
county conventions, a meeting of conference committees 
sent by these, and finally a full convention " to frame out of 
y e above materials y e best Constitution of Government in y e 
World." 3 Sandisfield offered an abundance of detail 4 in- 
cluding the expression of a demand then strong and to be 
stronger, that there should be a registry of deeds in every town 
and more generally convenient probate facilities. The town 
of Gorham would excel Franklin on his own ground, and 
proposed not only a legislature of a single chamber but 

1 These returns and the returns to the Resolve of February 20 are in Mass. 
Archives, 160: 32-293. 

2 E.g.: Lunenburg, August 9, 1779. Mass. Archives, 160: 187. Dudley, 
August 18, 1778. Mass. Archives, 160: 183. Williamstown, July 27, 1779. 
Mass. Archives, 160: 139. The last town included in its suggestions a proposal 
for the repeated submission of the constitution until two-thirds should have ap- 
proved. 

3 Mass. Archives, 1 60: 266-277. 

4 Ibid., 160: 255-265. The report included the suggestions of two sessions of 
the Assembly, in May and October, of an annual term for Representatives, 
although with elections in April and September, and of liberty of conscience to 
all protestants. It also proposed the title of " His Honour " for the Lieutenant- 
Governor. 



230 . FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [230 

also the abolition of governor and council, citing for their 
comfort the happiness of the Romans under their Senate and 
of the Jews under their Sanhedrim. In this manner and in 
the press 1 the sentiment of the time was voiced plainly and 
with sufficient fulness, so that when September came the 

x Thus the Boston Gazette, nos. 1 298-1 300, July 12, 19, 26, 1779, has "An Ad- 
dress to the Good People of the State of Massachusetts Bay," with a Bill of Rights 
and Form of Government, " Calculated, formed and collected, by one of the Mem- 
bers of the honorable House of Representatives of Massachusetts State, 1778." 
The address includes : " Let us have a Constitution, not upon party views or preju- 
dice, nor to aggrandize those that may rule among us, with pomp, honor, and 
wealth; but a Constitution founded in the honor, interest, safety and happiness of 
this State in general," no. 1298. He favors a bicameral legislature, annual elec- 
tions, liberty of conscience to protestants, entails, and graded property qualifica- 
tions for electors. The Pres., vice-Pres., Council, Representatives, Continental 
Congress delegates, and all judicial officers were in his plan to be Protestants. 
"Trade, commerce, land, personal estate, polls, and faculty, bearing a proportion 
in the public expenses yearly, to be stated by the House of Representatives; and 
a Valuation list shall be taken once in three years to that end for ever hereafter," 
no. 1299. 

So "A Freeholder " in the Boston Gazette, no 1306, Sept. 6, 1779, writes: 
" Self-love is the main spring of human actions." He proposes simplicity in the 
Constitution, a Bill of Rights with a clear definition of powers and with elections 
so frequent that "the people shall hold the staff in their owm hands." \_Cf. 
" Some thoughts on Government :" " And as the principles of government mainly 
consist in setling where the power shall rest, and how it shall be exercised, and 
as the law of God and nature hath put the power in the hands of the people so it 
is of great importance that they keep it there." Mass. Spy, no. 364, April 23, 
1778.] He suggests rotation in office, freedom of conscience to all Christians, 
the abolition of compulsory payments for religion, and the freedom of civil liberty 
from the limitations of religious acts. " Every man who objects to an article so 
full and plain as this is, gives, in my opinion, the public reason to suspect that he 
is not in heart a friend to the rights of conscience." 

On the general situation, " a friend to the community," while urging a new 
constitution, had written in May : "The people of this State were once universally 
disposed to obedience of law; no people more reverenced the laws of the land; 
and in ancient times placed greater confidence in their rulers. The late revolu- 
tion has brought us in a relax state of government; that old reverence for law is 
almost worn out of the minds of the people, and will in a very short time be 
eraced, unless a new form of government be assumed, . . . ." Independent 
Chronicle, no. 563, May 20. 1779. 
Cf. Stevens, Facsimiles, no. 2046. 



231] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 2 3 I 

delegates were adequately instructed, by means both formal 
and informal, for the work before them. 1 

§2. Work of the Convention 

On the day appointed by law the delegates 2 who were in- 
vested with constituent powers 3 convened at Cambridge. 4 
An organization was promptly effected, 5 credentials were 
produced and passed upon, a committee on rules was 
created, 6 and six monitors were appointed " to keep order, 
and to return the House as there may be occasion." 7 The 
second day of the session it was resolved, "That it is the 
opinion of this Convention, that they have sufficient authority 
from the People of the Massachusetts Bay to proceed to the 
framing a new Constitution of Government, to be laid before 
them agreeably to their instructions." 8 On the day thereafter 
the delegates began their work. On the basis of a committee 

1 And cf Joseph Hawley, October 18, 1779, to Samuel Adams: "Your Power 
is not derived from The Gen'l Assembly But the People." Adams Papers, VI., 
Bancroft Collection. 

2 The Boston Gazette, no. 1306, Sept. 6, 1779, contains an incomplete list of 
delegates. Cf. Works of John Adams, IX., 618. An incomplete list of 293 
delegates is given in Journal of the Convention, 8-19. E. g.: the town of 
Western sent a delegate with no formal warrant, simply " hearing of the pre- 
cept," and holding election. Mass. Archives, 160: 289. Cf Smith, History of 
Pittsfield, I., 369. 

3 The question of the nature and legality of this body, and the question of its 
authority, were discussed in 1853 by Benjamin F. Butler, who aimed to show that 
the convention of i779~'8o was in such respects perfectly similar to those of 
1820 and 1853. Debates and Proceedings of the Convention of 1833, 94-97. Cf 
Ibid., 78, 115. 

4 Cf. Debates and Proceedings of the Convention ofiSjj, I., 13. 

5 James Bowdoin was chosen President, and Samuel Barrett, Secretary. Jour- 
nal of the Convention, 7. 

6 Consisting of Messrs. Pickering, Gorham, Goodman, Sullivan, and Dawes. 
Their report, as amended, comprised ten rules of procedure, and was accepted 
Sept. 2. Journal of the Convention, 20, 21. 

11 Ibid., 19. s Ibid, 22. 



232 ** OM PR O VINCI AL TO COMMONWEAL TH [232 

report they determined upon the choice of a committee of 
thirty-one, four at large and twenty-seven named by the 
county delegations, 1 for the preparation of a declaration of 
rights and a constitution. This committee 2 was constituted 
on September 4, when also the " Convention resumed a free 
conversation, begun yesterday, on the general principles of a 
Declaration of Rights, and a Form or Constitution of Govern- 
ment." 3 Those whom Winthrop has called the " greatest 
minds of the Commonwealth," 1 were now beginning " to repair 
the failure " 4 of 1778; and surely never before was there a 
happier opportunity for a man " to display his knowledge of 
the principles of government, and of men and things. Num- 
bers of members did honour to themselves and their country, 
on that occasion ; and," further wrote the " Laco " of the time, 
11 our present happy Constitution, the wonder of the world, 

1 Five counties had three members each on this committee; four counties, two 
each; three counties, one each; Dukes and Nantucket Counties together had one 
member. Journal of the Convention, 24. As neither Dukes nor Nantucket was 
represented in the Convention, neither had a member on this committee, as 
actually constituted. 

In the Harvard College Library [6347.12] is a copy of the report of the commit- 
tee on the Constitution, in which volume is bound a letter of Samuel Barrett, Sec- 
retary of the Convention, to Rev. Edwd. Wigglesworth, dated Nov. 5, 1779, giving 
an " Exact List" of the large committee, and naming Bowdoin, John Adams, and 
Samuel Adams as the sub-committee. But he gives Samuel Small as of Lincoln 
Co., and Benj. Brainard as of Cumberland Co., which was the reverse of the min- 
utes (cf Journal of the Convention, 29), and the reverse of their residences. As 
to Dukes and Nantucket, Barrett says : " from their peculiar Situation in respect 
of the Enemy, not being represented in the Convention, had no Member on the 
committee." 

In the choice of committeemen at large, with 237 voting and 119 votes needed 
to elect, Samuel Adams received 209, Caleb Strong 203, and John Pickering 156. 
In the afternoon, with 198 voting, William Cushing received 135 votes and was 
added to the committee. Journal of the Convention, ... 30. 

Cf Theophilus Parsons, Memoir of Theophilus Parsons, 55, 56, 454. 

2 The thirty members are given in Journal of the Convention, 28-30. 
3 I6id., 27. 

4 R. C. Winthrop, Life and Services of J as. Bowdoin, Boston, 1876, p. 21. 



233] GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS 233 

exhibits the clearest proof of wisdom and knowledge." 1 A 
Massachusetts man, already quoted, spoke of this body as 
containing " as great a number of men of learning, talent and 
patriotism as had ever been convened here at any earlier 
period;" 2 but the Adams whom Paul Wentworth had men- 
tioned as the " Legislator much Confided in," 3 later re- 
ferred to the convention as a body containing " such chaos 
of absurd sentiments concerning government" that he " was 
obliged daily, before that great assembly, and afterwards . in 
the Grand Committee, to propose plans, and advocate doc- 
trines, which were extremely unpopular with the greater 
number." 4 The one who recognized in patience the three 
virtues of the politician 5 had written more than four years 
before, on the receipt by the Continental Congress of the 
letter 6 of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress relative to 
forms of government:" "This subject had engaged much of 
my attention before I left Massachusetts, and had been fre- 
quently the subject of conversation between me and many of 
my friends, — Dr. Winthrop, Dr. Cooper, Colonel Otis, the 
two Warrens, Major Hawley, and others, besides my col- 
leagues in Congress, — and lay with great weight upon my 
mind, as the most difficult and dangerous business that we 

1 The Writings of Laco [Stephen Higginson], Boston, 1789, 13. 
2 R. C. Winthrop, quoted in Bullock, Centennial of the Massachusetts Constitu- 
tion, Worcester, 1881, 16. 

3 Minutes on Parties in America; Stevens, Facsimiles, no. 487. 

4 John Adams to Benj. Rush, Quincy, Aptil 12, 1809. Works of John Adams, 
IX., 618. Illustrating his position, he further wrote: "Lieutenant-Governor 
Cushing was avowedly for a single assembly, like Pennsylvania. Samuel Adams 
was of the same mind. Mr. Hancock kept aloof, in order to be governor. In 
short, I had at first no support but from the Essex junto. ..." A different 
view appears in Wells Papers, S. Adams and the American Revolution, III., ch. 
II, Bancroft Collection. 

5 Cf Works of John Adams, IX., 394. 

6 Dated May 16, 1775. 



234 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [234 

had to do; (for from the beginning, I always expected we 
should have more difficulty and danger, in our attempt to 
govern ourselves, and in our negotiations and connections with 
foreign powers, than from all the fleets and armies of Great 
Britain)." 1 The patience, the ability, and the influence of 
Adams were now to show their effect ; with his name is the 
important report of October 28 most closely associated. 2 

The constitutional convention after completing its prelimi- 
nary business, passing certain general resolutions, 3 and tak- 
ing steps toward securing a larger attendance, 4 asked the 
committee on the constitution to fix soon the time and place 
of its meeting, 5 and then adjourned to meet October 28. 
During the recess 6 of the convention the committee of 

1 Autobiography under date of June 2, 1775, Works of John Adams, III., 13. 

2 Cf. Ibid., IV., 213-267. 

3 On September 3, " Resolved, unanimously, That the Government, to be framed 
by this Convention, shall be a free Republic." " Resolved, That it is of the 
Essence of a free Republic, that the People be governed by fixed Laws OF 
their own Making." Journal of the Convention, 24. 

4 The Convention, on Sept. 4, asked the General Court to adjourn the Superior 
Courts of Worcester and Hampshire Cos., to avoid conflicts in the appointments 
of members. Journal of the Convention, 31. The Council, on Sept. 9, resolved, 
and the House concurred the same day, to adjourn from the appointed dates the 
Superior Courts of Worcester, Hampshire, Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk Counties, 
as some justices were on the committee on the constitution. The original resolve, 
sent down from the council, is in Mass. Archives, 223 : 432-434. The bill was 
published in the Boston Gazette, nos. 1307, 1308, 1309, Sept. 13, 20, 27, 1779. 
Cf. Journal of the House of Representatives. 

To secure a more complete representation in the Convention when it should 
reassemble on October 28, a recommendation to the selectmen of all towns was 
adopted on Sept. 7, that they should have delegates chosen, if it had not already 
been done. 

5 The appointment was made for Sept. 13 at the New Court House. 

6 That part of the recess between Sept. 7 and Oct. I, is covered by an extant roll 
of attendance of Secretary Barrett and the 30 members. In this pay roll 24 days' 
time is given to Rev. Sam'l West, Jas. Harris, and Caleb Strong; 23 days' time 
to two members; and "no service" is entered against II out of the 30, viz., Jas. 



235] G ° VERNMEN T IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 235 

thirty 1 delegated the actual constructive work of a bill 
of rights to John Adams, 2 and of a constitution to James 
Bowdoin, Samuel Adams, 3 and John Adams, a frame by 
the last of whom was, after modification by the two com- 
mittees, reported to the convention with the bill of rights. 4 

Bowdoin, John Lovell, Jas. Sullivan, Nath'l Gorham, Jed. Foster, John Cotton, 
David Sewall, Enoch Hallett, Sam'l Small, Benj. Brainard, and Wm, Cushing. 
Mass. Archives, 170 : 413. Since reading the manuscript of the foregoing I have 
found in the Annals of Mendon, 385, 386, a similar roll, taken from the original 
cited. 

On October 25, 1779, Caleb Strong wrote to Joseph Hawley: "I was so fortu- 
nate as to arrive here just before the Comittee entered on Business since which 
we have applied with Industry & I believe we shall find our Time quite short 
enough." Hawley Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. 

1 On p. 36 of a copy in the Lenox Library of Journal of the Convention, . . . 
Boston, 1832, is written, evidently by Geo. Bancroft: "The committee of 30 for 
framing the constitution met in Boston & chose a sub-committee composed of 
J. Adams, Bowdoin, & S. Adams. What is the authority for this statement?" 
See p. 232, note 1. 

2 Article 3 of the Bill of Rights was not attributed to John Adams. Cf. Works 
of John Adams, IV., 215, 216. 

3 W. V. Wells quotes a letter to himself from Caleb Strong, Northampton, May 
31, 1819 : " Mr. Adams was very assiduous in attending to the business, & accord- 
ing to the representation which you mention as given by doctor Eliot was eminently 
useful from his knowledge and experience. Besides gov. [Samuel] Adams there 
were in the committee gov. Bowdoin the chairman, Mr. Adams, late President of 
the United States, the late Chief Justice Will m Cushing, Judge Paine, Mr. John 
Pickering of Salem, the late Chief Justice Parsons, and several other of the most 
able men in the State. These generally agreed in the principles of the Constitu- 
tion; but they were often opposed by divers members of the committee who 
wished for what was termed a more popular government." Wells also states that 
Judge Robbins, of Milton, a member of the convention, informed him that Samuel 
Adams made many animated speeches of two hours in length. Wells Papers, 
Samuel Adams and the American Revolution, III., chap. 11, Bancroft Collec- 
tion. 

4 This report was not easily to be found in 1832. Cf. Works of John Adams, 
IV., 216. Cf Journal of the Convention, 191. 

The Report of a Constitution ... a pamphlet of 50 pages was published in 
1779 by Benj. Edes and Sons, Boston. Copies are in the Library of Harvard 



236 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [2 $6 

With a tentative frame of government before it as a basis of 
discussion the convention, on October 28, resumed its work. 1 
The first active session of the convention, which lasted a fort- 
night, resulted in the prompt acceptance of seventeen articles 
in the bill of rights, and in the adoption, after discussion and 
alteration, 2 of ten others, including the troublesome third 
article. Final action on the remaining articles was post- 
poned, and an effort was made to consider the body of 
the constitution. Besides the matter of judicial tenures, 
the only important point which in these weeks, as indeed 
also later, was the subject of much controversy was the 
article bearing on matters of religion, the third article of the 
bill of rights. Of this the first two propositions were ac- 
cepted on October 30; those concerning the support of re- 
ligious instruction and worship were " largely debated " and 
their final consideration postponed. Attention was given to 
the matter on the three succeeding days, on the last of which 
it was referred, together with all related propositions, to a 
special committee of seven ;3 by them, three days later, was 

College. In the Mass. Archives is a copy on large paper with notes in the mar- 
gin by Stephen Hall, Tertius, of Medford. 

The text of the report has been printed in Journal of the Convention, pp. 19 1 
et sea. 

As to the authorship of this report, cf. Memoirs oj Theophilus Parsons, 55, 56, 

454- 

Also, e. g., John Adams to Mercy Warren, July 28, 1807 : " I made the Consti- 
tution for Massachusetts which finally made the Constitution of the United States." 
5 Collections Mass. Hist. Society, IV., 377. Cf. Debates and Proceedings of the 
Convention ofiSjj, I., 820. 

Cf. John Adams, August 8, 1807, to Mrs. Mercy Warren. 5 Collections of the 
Mass. Historical Society, IV., 432. 

1 On Oct. 28, 19 new members qualified. Journal of the Convention, 34, 35. 

2 The alterations made by the Convention in the report of the committee were 
put on a printed copy of that report. Only the final form of such changes 
appears in the records. Cf. Journal of the Convention, 36. 

3 Rev. Alden, Th. Parsons, S. Adams, Danielson, Paine, Rev. Sanford, and C. 
Strong. Journal of the Convention, 40. Further amendments were referred to 



237] G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 237 

reported a new draft of the whole of article 3. And on 
November 10 the convention formally adopted the report of 
the special committee, after having made slight changes 
therein and after having defeated a motion to expunge the 
whole article. 1 

Turning to the frame of government, a motion was enter- 
tained to expunge the first paragraph of the first section and 
to insert : " The department of legislation shall be formed by 
three branches, a Governor, Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives, each of which shall have a negative on the 
other." 2 The convention, however, declined at this time to 
commit itself to such a plan, although it determined to con- 
sider first those parts of the "frame" pertaining to the legis- 
lature. But already the convention had so dwindled that at 
times less than one-third of the members were present. 3 
The urgency of the situation, the expediency of enabling 
the public thoroughly to understand the proposed con- 
stitution, and the advisability of suspending proceedings 
until the cessation, in January, of the work of the General 
Assembly and of the superior courts, combined to bring 

them on November 5, Journal of the Conventioji, 41,42. Mr. Sanford alone of 
the committee disagreed with its report. Wells Papers, S. Adams and the 
American Revolution, III., ch. II, Bancroft Collection. 

1 Of this, Joseph Hawley wrote that it was bad and obscure, and that future 
laws on religion, " if made conformable to the article itself, will afford plenty of 
that glorious uncertainty, which is the source of the emoluments of the men of 
my profession." June 5, 1780. Hazvley Papers, II., Eancroft Collection. 

2 November 9; Journal of the Convention, 44. Cf Diary of Ezra Stiles, 
April 29, 1776, after a conversation with Francis Dana: " Mr. Gadsden is sent 
home to assist in settling Govt. Mr. Hooper a delegate from North Carolina 
sent home to assist in modelling the Govt there and took a plan from Mr. Samuel 
Adams, vizt : three branches of legislature all elective — the deputies by the 
Counties — the Council and the Governor by the people at large." Stiles Papers, 
519, Bancroft Collection. 

3 E. g.: November 8, a. m.; 93 present, 207 absent. Journal of the Conven- 
tion, 42. 



238 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [238 

about an adjournment on November n. 1 It was voted that 
the next meeting should be at Boston on the first Wednes- 
day in January, 1 780; and the president 2 was directed to 
make use of the press and publicly " to enjoin upon its mem- 
bers, from its necessity and importance, A CONSTANT AND 
GENERAL ATTENDANCE accordingly." 3 

The convention began its next session on the day ap- 
pointed, but as travelling was " excessive bad," few mem- 
bers appeared, and during a period of more than three 
weeks which followed there were repeated adjournments 4 
and efforts to secure a larger attendance. 5 The outlook 
finally improving after this "spell" of weather, 6 a return of 

1 This session had, on Nov. 9, defeated a motion to put "Oceana" in place of 
" Massachusetts," in the first paragraph of the preamble of the Constitution. 
"Journal of the Convention, 43. Cf. Dwight, Harrington, in Political Science 
Quarterly, II., 1. Caleb Strong, Boston, October 25, 1779, to Joseph Hawley: 
" I had forgot to mention that some of the Comtee are dissatisfied so much with 
the Name of Massachusetts Bay that they would gladly substitute in its Place 
Oceana but 1 think we must compound the Matter with establishing Massachu- 
setts leaving out the Word Bay." Hawley Papers, II., BancrofrCollection. 

2 The call issued on Nov. 20 by Pres. Bowdoin for a full attendance on Jan. 5, 
1780, is in the Boston Gazette, no. 131 8, Nov. 29, 1779, and the Mass. Spy, no. 
450, Dec. 16, 1779. 

3 Journal of the Convention, p. 49. 

* January 13, 1780, [S. Adams to J. Adams] : "You will see by the inclosed 
Paper that our convention is adjourned. The Roads thro' the Country are so 
blocked up by incessant & heavy Snows, that it has been impracticable for the 
Members to attend. It is proposed to keep it alive by Short Adjournments till a 
sufficient Number shall arrive to proceed to Business. Those among us who can 
rember [sic] the year 1727 say there has not been so much Snow on the Ground 
since that Time." Adams Papers, Bancroft Collection. 

5 Thus, on January 7, notices were sent to the newspapers, including even those 
of Piovidence, Worcester, Salem, and Hartford. Journal of the Convention, 52* 
It was at this period, on January 5, 17S0, that the Braintree selectmen were 
notified to hold an election to fill the seat of John Adams " who has sailed for 
Europe; . . . ." Ibid., 51. Cf Debates and Proceedings of the Convention of 
i8jj, I., 46, 78, 82, 91, 98, 114. Cf. Journal of the Convention of 1820, 54. 

6 " For twenty years past the traveling has not been known to be worse than at 
present." Mass. Spy, no. 453 (half sheet), January 6, 1780. Cf Ibid., no. 457,. 



239] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE ITS 239 

the towns was taken on January 17, by which it appeared 
that forty-seven towns 1 were represented. It was then de- 
termined, by a vote of 42 out of a total of 60, to proceed 
again to business. A beginning was made by the devout 
refusal to strike out the committee's characterization of their 
ancestors as " wise and pious," 2 by the adoption of chapter 
VII. as reported, 3 and by the acceptance of a detailed pro- 
gram of business. 4 Thenceforward the work was carried on 
with more system and better effect, although rapid progress 
was still hindered by the postponement of vital points in the 
hope of an attendance more truly representative of all parts 
of the commonwealth. 

The work of Adams, though he was absent, was early en- 
dorsed by the final adoption of the bicameral legislative sys- 
tem ; 5 a long list of offices the incumbents of which should 

February 3, 1780, and Boston Gazette, no. 1324, January 10, 1780, On February 
23, 1780, the issue of the Mass. Spy was omitted, owing to the small sales and 
the increased expenses due to bad roads. Many accounts refer to the unusual 
severity of the winter. 

1 Seven counties were not represented. At this time there were represented 
fourteen towns of Middlesex, ten of Suffolk, nine of Essex, five of Hampshire, 
four each of Worcester and Bristol, and one of Berkshire County, Journal of 
the Convention, 55-57. 

2 Chap. VI., Sec. 1, Art. 1. 

3 Chap. VII., as reported, became simply Chap. VI., Art. 9, of the constitution 
as adopted, providing that all officers previously commissioned should hold office 
until their successors should be appointed, and that all officers should continue 
to act until the General Court and the new officials under the constitution as- 
sumed power. January 27, 1780, Journal of the Convention, 58. 

4 January 28, 1780; Ibid., 59, 60. 

5 February 1, 1780; Chap. II., Sec. 1, Art. I., parag. i; the final form was 
taken as a substitute for the committee report. Ibid., 68. But a later change 
was made, as the texts of the October, 1779, report, and of the adopted constitu- 
tion, are in this paragraph identical. W. V. Wells quotes a letter to himself 
from Caleb Strong, Northampton, May 31, 1819, and cites a letter of S. Adams 
to J. Adams, Nov. 20, 1790, to support his claim that Samuel Adams was not 
opposed to a bicameral legislature. Wells Papers, Samuel Adams and the 
American Revolution, vol. III., chap. 11, Bancroft Collection. 



240 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [240 

be disqualified for legislative service was approved ; z the 
characteristic spirit of the time and region was exemplified 
by the imposition upon practically all office-holders of a 
stringent test of aut^iance in the oath of office; 2 and a mass 
of detail was passed under view. With eighty-four present, 3 
a motion to adjourn to a distant day was defeated ; and with 
fifty-eight present 4 only thirty-three 5 helped to answer 
affirmatively the question, " whether the Convention will now 
proceed in the business of framing a Constitution of Govern- 
ment, and continue in the same until completed ;...." 

The committee's outline of work, somewhat modified from 
time to time, was resumed, 6 and the routine of report, refer- 
ence, and adoption was pushed forward toward a completion 
of the task. The clerical spirit of 1778 failed in its efforts for 
the substitution of " Protestant " for " Christian ; "? further at- 
tention was given to the oaths of office ; 8 and the matter of rep- 
resentation was given thorough consideration. Action was 

1 Cf. Journal of the Convention, 81-83, 93, 138, 139. 

2 Cf. Ibid., 88, 89. 

3 From 62 towns; February 4, 1780. Ibid., 80. 

4 February 9, 1780; Ibid., 94. 

5 Joseph Hawley, in his Criticism on the Constitution of Massachusetts, June 
5, 1780, refers to the past winter " when More than two thirds of your Body Not 
by any laches or default cf their own but Merely by the Act of God were pre- 
vented attending y e Convention .... I say I do not see with what Justice such 
a part could be denominated the Convention. . . . The full Convention which 
they adjourned last fall from Cambridge to Boston had Never dismissed or passed 
upon any More of the Report of their Comtee than the Articles containd in the 

Declaration of Rights, they cannot by any reasonable construction 

be denominated or taken to have been the Convention unless by great liberality 

they should be considered such Merely for the purpose of adjourning 

to prevent a dissolution, . . . ." Hawley Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. 

6 February 10, 1780; Ibid., 94. 

7 February 10, 1780. Journal of the Convention, 97. On February 22 a 
motion to insert "Protestant" immediately after "Christian" in chap. 3, art. 8, 
sec. 3, was defeated; there was an affirmative vote of 26 out of 60. Ibid., 132. 

8 Cf Ibid., 109-111. 



2 4 1 ] G O VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 2 4 1 

taken relative to a future alteration of the constitution; 1 and 
provision was made for the necessary processes contingent 
upon the popular ratification of the forthcoming document. 2 
An edition of 1800 copies of the constitution 3 was or- 
dered, 4 and arrangements were made for their speedy distri- 
bution 5 to the proper town officials. After an appearance of 

1 It was not until February 23, 1780, that a committee was appointed to con- 
sider the expediency of inserting a clause " making provision for the future re- 
vision of the same by the People of this Commonwealth." Dr. Jarvis, Mr. 
Adams, and Mr. Spooner composed the committee. Journal of the Convention, 
134, 135. Their report was made March 1, recommending that another con- 
vention be held after the lapse of twenty years. It was at once considered; a 
motion to fix the year 1800 as the year when there should be an opportunity for 
revision was defeated; and a motion was carried to designate for that purpose 
the year 1795. Ibid., 156, 157. On March 2 a motion to substitute 1790 for 
1 795 was defeated. Ibid., 162. On the afternoon of the same day the report 
was again considered and accepted. Ibid., 162. 

2 The document was to be submitted to the inhabitants of each town and planta- 
tion; in case two-thirds of the voters should approve, it was recommended that the 
people of the towns and plantations " empower their Delegates, at the next Session 
of this Convention, to agree upon a time when this Form of Government shall 
take place, without returning the same agaii to the people: . . . ." Journal 
of the Convention, 169. 

3 In the Library of Harvard College is a copy of the Constitution of 1780, as 
agreed on by the Convention, published by Benj. Edes and Sons, pp. 43, but with 
the additional line on the title page : " [Revised and Corrected.] " — In the 
Library of Harvard College is also a copy of the Constitution of 1780, with the 
convention resolutions of March 2, 1780, published by Benj. Edes and Sons, pp. 53. 
The text of the constitution is reprinted in Journal of the Co7ivention, 222-249. 

4 A report including this was accepted, February 29. Journal of the Conven- 
tion, 155. A similar vote was passed, March 1, Ibid., 158. 

5 Messrs. Barrett, Wendell, and Gray were on March 1 appointed " to employ 
three expresses," and " to distribute the books to the several towns and planta- 
tions, in such numbers to each as they may think proper." Messrs. Bowdoin 
and Adams were immediately added to this committee. Journal of the Conven- 
tion, 158. In Mass. Archives, 231 : 456A is a bill of Thos. Edes against the 
convention, paid May 3, 1780, for a horse, 170 miles, ^255; expenses, ^252; 
fourteen days service distributing constitution in Worcester, Hampshire, and 
Berkshire counties, £16%; total, ^675. In Mass. Archives, 231 : 456° are two 
bills, one of which, of L. G. Wallis, is for nine days service at " 40 Dollars p 



242 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [242 

considerable friction, 1 it was determined that the adjourn- 
ment should be until the first Wednesday in June ; and an 
address 2 was agreed upon for submission to the people with 
the constitution. 

In the address emphasis was put upon the need of con- 
cession^ and upon the difficulty of the task, while the authors 
frankly continued, "We may not expect to agree in a perfect 
System of Government: This is not the Lot of Mankind." 4 
The address appeared thus as an apology, and furthermore 
as an argument and as an appeal. So it was asked whether 
it would not " be prudent for Individuals to cast out of the 
Scale smaller considerations, and fall in with an evident Ma- 
jority, unless in Matters in which their Consciences shall con- 
strain them to determine otherwise." Government, and a 
strong government, was essential, for it was "probable, that 
for the want of Energy, it would speedily lose even the 

Day." On April 7 the house and council voted ,£900 in response to the 
memorial of Secretary Barrett, to distribute the " doings of the Convention " to 
the several towns. Mass. Archives, 227 : 74. 

1 Motions to adjourn to the first Wednesday in September, the second Wednes- 
day in August, the second Wednesday in July, and the fourth Wednesday in June, 
were successively defeated, yournal of the Convention, 152, 163. 

2 On March I the motion was carried " that the same number of copies of the 
Address be printed, as of the Form of Government, and accompany the same, 
and be signed by the President." Journal of the Convention, 159. The Address 
and Constitution were printed in Almon's Remembrancer, 1780, II., 198-222. 
The Address was published by White and Adams, Boston, 1780, pp. 18; a copy 
is in the Mass, Archives, and also in the Library of Harvard College. The text 
is reprinted in Journal of the Convention, 216-221. 

The committee on the address was appointed, February 22, and consisted of 
Messrs. Sullivan, Adams, Lowell, West, and Gray. Journal of the Convention, 
130. As to the authorship of the address, cf T. C. Amory, Nezu England His- 
toric Genealogical Society. Proceedings commemorative of the organization of the 
government of Massachusetts, 25. Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, III., 80-97. 
Journal of the Convention of 1820, 435. 

3 Also, cf. A Sermon preached . . . October 25, 1780. By Samuel Cooper, 28. 

4 Journal of the Convention, p. 217; this was quoted in an apologetic manner in 
the Address of the Convention of 1853. "J he Constitutional Propositions, p. 44. 



243 ] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 243 

Appearance of Government, and sink into Anarchy." But to 
avoid tyranny a duly proportioned weight should be given 
to each power of government, and to " do this accurately 
requires the highest Skill in political Architecture." To 
convince the people of the wisdom of their work suggestive 
explanations were offered upon the more salient points. In 
the endeavor "to assist your Judgments" they flattered 
themselves that they had " sufficiently guarded the rights of 
Conscience from every possible infringement." 

The third article of the declaration of rights, they con- 
tinued, " underwent long debates, and took Time in propor- 
tion to its importance ; and we feel ourselves peculiarly 
happy in being able to inform you, that, though the debates 
were managed by persons of various denominations, it was 
finally agreed upon with much more Unanimity than usually 
takes place in disquisitions of this Nature." 1 They con- 
siderately maintained that it would be an affront to the 
people of the commonwealth to labor to convince them 
" that the Public Worship of God " had " a tendency to 
preserve a People from forsaking Civilization, and falling into 
a state of Savage barbarity." They subsequently stated that 
they " did not conceive themselves to be vested with Power 
to set up one Denomination of Christians above another; for 
Religion must at all Times be a matter between God and in- 
dividuals:" 2 but they found themselves obliged to form 
stringent oaths of office. Various matters were merely 
mentioned, as if mention by the convention was amply ade- 
quate to secure the contented acquiescence of the voter. 
Thus they alluded, by way of more formal sanction, to the 
judicial tenures, to the check of the council on the executive, 
to the limited continuance of existing laws and officers, to 
the powers of revision, and to the legislative process. Their 

1 Joiirnal of the Convention, 218; Cf. Journal of the Convention 0/1820,430. 

2 Ibid., 220. 



244 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [244 

constituents were told that the governor was " emphatically 
the representative of the whole people," 1 and that the house 
of representatives was " intended as the Representative of 
the Persons, and the Senate of the property of the Common- 
wealth." 2 

Allegiance to the principle of representation according 
to population prompted a recognition of the inconsist- 
ency of granting representation to the small incorporated 
towns, and a prophecy that their new " method of calcu- 
lation" would "give a more exact Representation, when 
applied to all the Towns in the State, than any that we 
could fix upon." 3 "An exact Representation would be im- 
practicable even in a System of Government arising from the 
State of Nature, and much more so in a state already di- 
vided into nearly three hundred Corporations." 4 Thus, 
" with plainness and sincerity," they aimed at harmonizing 
the views of the public with their own propositions on the 
more important features of constitutional government, and 
with this matter of fact sponsorship they sent forth the pro- 
posed instrument of government to those in whom was 
vested the " undoubted Right, either to propose such Altera- 
tions and Amendments as you shall judge proper, or, to give 
it your own Sanction in its present Form, or, totally to re- 
ject it." 5 The frame of government thus completed and sub- 

1 Journal of the Convention, 219. 

2 Ibid., 218. 

Cf. Journal of the Convention of 1820, 257. Cf Action of Northampton, May 
22, 1780: "And it is impossible for us to admit so black a thought, as to 
imagine that the convention had an intention, by their address, to beguile their 
constituents into a supposition, that provision was made in the frame of Govern- 
ment, for a representative of the persons, as well as for the property, of the 
Commonwealth, when really at the same time they were conscious that it was 
not so in fact; . . . ." Hawley Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. 

3 Journal of the Convention, 219. 

* Ibid., 219. Cf The Constitutional Propositions, . . . Boston, 1853^.46. 

* Journal of the Convention, 216. 



245 ] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 245 

mitted to the action of the sanctioning power, was such, both 
in contents and in historical position, as to demand attention. 
In the constitution itself is found the justification of the 
opinions passed upon it, as well as the explanation of the 
pre-eminence granted it in the constitutional history of the 
period. Both in essence and in form it stands as a type of 
the best workmanship and the highest scholarship. In 
theory it embodied the growth of English freedom, the his- 
tory of the English constitution, and the development in the 
outlying parts of the empire of organizations of local govern- 
ment fully adapted to subsist in relations other than those of 
an expanding monarchical state. The formation of this 
constitution followed, furthermore, the adoption of thirteen 
constitutions in other states, 1 and its framers thus were 
enabled to profit by the large amount of practical experi- 
ence thus made available. The opportunity for excellent 
work was favorable ; the leaders of the body to which this 
opportunity was presented were men of unusual training; 
and the result was a document whose character is attested 
by its use, with certain modifications, to the present day. 2 
Embracing in its history such a period, it serves both as a 
summary of the past and as an introduction to the state 
constitutional history of the century succeeding its adoption. 
It is the first of the distinctly modern constitutions, as well 
as the last, with one exception, 3 of the revolutionary era. 

1 Each of the thirteen colonies, except Connecticut and Rhode Island, had 
framed a constitution; South Carolina and New Hampshire had each formed 
two before 1780; and Vermont also had formed one. Including the Massa- 
chusetts Constitution of 1778, thus far fourteen in all had been drafted and either 
put in force or submitted to popular vote. 

2 The separation of Maine from Massachusetts made necessary some alteration 
in the constitution; on this question fewer than one-fourth of the qualified voters 
gave any expression, and of 18,349 votes, 6,593 were against revision. 

a The exception of New Hampshire is more one of chronology than anything 
else. The constituent work in that state was at the time recognized as a con- 
scious imitation of that of Massachusetts. 



246 . FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [246 

That it approximated more nearly than its predecessors to 
the modern type appears in nothing more distinctly than in 
its form. For the first time the usual long series of miscel- 
laneous and loosely connected articles gives way to a sys- 
tematic arrangement of subjects and to a clear, if not rigid, 
differentiation of material on those general lines along which 
the functions of government are differentiated. Such is 
found in the several chapters comprised in the " frame of 
government," or body of the constitution. Preceding that, 
however, are two important parts of the document, the pre- 
amble and the declaration of rights. 

The inclusion of a preamble made this constitution to 
differ from several others of the period ; z and from those hav- 
ing a preamble this one is distinguished by the fact that use 
is made of these preliminary paragraphs not to justify the 
political theories of the Revolution, but to state the underlying 
principles of the government which was about to be insti- 
tuted. 2 Thus, first, it is stated that the end of the institution 
and maintenance of government is "to secure the existence 

x The constitutions of Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire (1784), and Vir 
ginia, contained no preamble. Practically all of the constitutions to which refer- 
ence is made in the following pages are to be found in Poore, Charters and Con- 
stitutions. The bill of rights of the Delaware constitution of 1776 is in 5 
American Archives, II., 286, 287. The constitution proposed in New Hampshire 
in 1779 is in Collections of the A'ew Hampshire Historical Society, IV., 1 54-1 61. 

2 The New Jersey preamble referred to the compact of government; alluded to 
the withdrawal of protection, the dissolution of government, the need of some 
government, and to the advice of the Continental Congress. The South Carolina 
preamble of 1776 uses in a political way such topics as the British claims, the ex- 
tension of admiralty jurisdiction, the affairs in Massachusetts, the acts of Parlia- 
ment, the use of force by the English, the dissolution of the Assembly, and the 
unjustifiable activity of Governor Campbell. The Pennsylvania, Vermont, and 
New Hampshire (1776) preambles suggest the basis of their authorization. The 
New York preamble quoted in full the Declaration of Independence, cited the 
resolution of July 9, 1776, of the N. Y. Provincial Congress, and quoted the 
resolution of May 31, 1776, of the same body, the latter including the resolution 
of the Continental Congress of May 15, 1776. 



247] GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS 247 

of the body-politic;" and to assure the individuals therein 
the safe enjoyment of " their natural rights, and the bless- 
ings of life;" the failure to attain which objects invests the 
people with a " right to alter the government, and to take 
measures necessary for their safety, prosperity and happi- 
ness." This body politic, which is " formed by a voluntary 
association of individuals," is further described as " a social 
compact, 1 by which the whole people covenants with each 
citizen, and each citizen with the whole people, that all shall 
be governed by certain laws for the common good." 2 Such 
a body, "the people of Massachusetts," acknowledging "the 
goodness of the Great Legislator of the Universe," enter 
into " an original, explicit, and solemn compact with each 
other;" and " agree upon, ordain and establish, the follow- 
ing Declaration of Rights, and Frame of Government, as the 
Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." 
Having thus declared their conception of the nature of the 
state, a more extended statement is made of those princi- 
ples of civil and religious relationship and of political privi- 
leges which are held to attach to the position of every man 
in civil society, and which cannot be considered subject to 
modification at the option of the government. The condi- 
tions on which man surrenders to the "body-politic" his 
" alienable " rights must be distinctly stated, and the in- 
violate character of his " inalienable " rights must be recog- 

1 Cf. Borgeaud, Etablissement et Revision des Constitutions, Paris, 1893, 1 ^7' 

2 Cf New Hampshire Declaration of Rights (1784), Art. 1. Cf. Virginia 
Declaration of Rights, Art. 3. Cf. Maryland Declaration of Rights, Art. I : 
" That all government of right originates from the people, is founded in compact 
only, and instituted solely for the good of the whole." 

Mr. Simonds, quoting this paragraph in the Convention of 1853, said : " Here I 
recognize the principle of a government dividing itself up into two classes, the 
citizen covenanting with the whole people, and the whole people covenanting 
with the citizen." Debates and Proceedings of the Convention of 185J, I., 210. 
Cf. Boston Town Records, XXVI., 282. 



248 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [248 

nized. 1 The form of such recognition was already familiar 
to Englishmen, and the necessity of such had been repeat- 
edly emphasized. That necessity, to be sure, was less when 
the people possessed all the powers of government than it was 
in the time of Charles or William ; yet the incorporation of a 
declaration of rights into so many of the constitutions of the 
time throws into prominence the carefulness and the con- 
sistency of the men who framed them. Others than those 
of Massachusetts realized keenly the vital importance of a 
clear and abiding statement of the immunities and privileges 
of man in civil society. 2 Especially on these points did 
Massachusetts voice the general sentiment throughout the 
new nation, and in this connection most clearly did the 
framers of her constitution draw upon the work of other men. 
One-half of the thirty sections of the Massachusetts de- 
claration of rights aim in various ways at the establishment 
of civil liberty. The opening statement that " all men are 
born free and equal, 3 and have certain natural, essential, and 

1 Cf. Virginia Declaration of Rights which asserts that all men " have certain 
inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, 
by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity;" Art. 1. Cf. Vermont De- 
claration of Rights, Arts. 1, 3. New Hampshire Declaration of Rights, (1784) 
Art. 3 : " When men enter into a state of societv, they surrender up some of their 
natural rights to that society, in order to insure the protection of others; and, 
without such an equivalent, the surrender is void." Ibid., Art. 4: "Among the 
natural rights, some are in their very nature unalienable, because no equivalent 
can be given or received for them." 

2 A Declaration of Rights was adopted by Delaware, Maryland, New Hamp- 
shire (1784), North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Virginia. 

3 As to this, Northampton, May 22, 1780, voted that "this is true only with 
respect to the right of dominion, and jurisdiction, over one another." Hawley 
Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. 

Although the courts soon declared that the constitution prohibited slavery in 
Massachusetts, Hawley, in his " Criticism," wrote : " I fear it will take a Century, 
wholly to abolish and take away the inhuman, unjust and cruel practice, of en- 
slaving our fellow men. Why therefore shall we affect to conceal and cover 
when we are too unwilling to annihilate and put an end to? Such disguises will 



249] G ° VERNMENT IN MASSA CHUSE TTS 249 

unalienable rights;" is followed by the inclusion among such 
of the right to possess and enjoy life, liberty, and happi- 
ness. 1 The enjoyment of these rights is to be guaranteed 
by law ; whence arises the duty of the individual to " con- 
tribute his share to the expense of this protection;" 2 but the 
alienation of one's property is subjected to strict legal limi- 
tations. General warrants, 3 unreasonable searches, 4 and ex 
post facto laws, 5 are forbidden. Prompt, free, and complete 

not remove the shame and just reproach while the iniquitous practice is notorious." 
Hawley Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. See Moore, Notes on the History of 
Slavery in Massachusetts. New York, 1866, 200-223. 

x Art. 1. In the report of October 28, 1779, this read: "All men are born 
equally free and independent, . . . ." Journal, 193. 

The Virginia Declaration, Art. I, states: "That all men are by nature equally 
free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter 
into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their pos- 
terity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring 
and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety." 

The Vermont declaration is, " That all men are born equally free and independ- 
ent, . . . ." Cf. the constitutions of Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and for an 
omission of such cf. those of Maryland and North Carolina. 

2 Art. 10. Cf Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. 8 : " every member of so- 
ciety is bound to contribute his proportion towards the expence of that 

protection, . . . ." Cf. Vermont Declaration of Rights, Art. 9 : "every member 
of society ... is bound to contribute his proportion towards the expense of that 
protection, . . . ." Delaware Declaration of Rights, Art. 10 : " That every 
member of society hath a right to be protected in the enjoyment of life, liberty, 
and property, and therefore is bound to contribute his proportion towards the 
expense of that protection, and yield his personal service when necessary, or an 
equivalent thereto; . . . ." 5 American Archives, II., 286. 

3 Art. 14. Cf. Virginia Declaration of Rights, Art. 10; Vermont Declaration of 
Rights, Art. n ; North Carolina Declaration of Rights, Art. 11; New Hampshire 
Declaration of Rights (1784), Art. 19; Maryland Declaration of Rights, Art. 23; 
Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. 10; Delaware Declaration of Rights, 
Art. 17. 

4 Art. 14. 

5 Art. 24. Cf. Maryland Declaration of Rights, Art. 15; New Hampshire 
Declaration of Rights (1784^)^^.23; North Carolina Declaration of Rights, 
Art. 24; Delaware Declaration of Rights, Art. 11. 



250 FR °M PR VINCIA L TO COMMON WEAL TH [250 

justice should be assured ; J jury trial is not to be limited, 2 and 
attention is given to the process of the courts. 3 The right to 
bear arms 4 and the freedom of the press 5 are assured, and 
the usual position is taken against standing armies in time of 
peace 6 and against the unrestricted quartering of soldiers. 7 

x Art. 11. Cf. New Hampshire Declaration of Rights (1784), Art. 14: "Every 
subject of this state is entitled to a certain remedy, by having recourse to the 
laws, for all injuries he may receive in his person, property or character, to obtain 
right and justice freely, without being obliged to purchase it; completely, and 
without any denial; promptly, and without delay, conformably to the laws." 
Cf. North Carolina Declaration of Rights, Arts. 12, 13; Delaware Declaration of 
Rights, Art. 12. The privileges of habeas corpus are assured in the body of 
the Constitution, Chap. VI., Art. 7. Cf. Georgia Constitution, Art. 60; New 
Hampshire Constitution (1784). Poore, p. 1292. 

2 Art. 12, 15. Cf. Georgia Constitution, Art. 61; Maryland Declaration of 
Rights, Art. 19; New Hampshire Declaration of Rights, (1784) Arts. 15, 20, 21; 
New Jersey Constitution, Art. 22; New York Constitution, Art. 41; North Caro- 
lina Declaration of Rights, Art. 9; Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Arts. 9, 
11; South Carolina Constitution, (1776) Art. 18; South Carolina Constitution, 
(1778) Art. 41; Vermont Declaration of Rights, Arts. 10, 13; Vermont Con- 
stitution, Sec. 22; Virginia Declaration of Rights, Arts. 8, II; New Hampshire 
Declaration of Rights, (1779) Art. 7; Delaware Declaration of Rights, Arts. 13, 14. 

3 Arts. 12, 13, 26, 29. Thus, for instance, excessive charges for fines or bail are 
forbidden; Cf. Georgia Constitution, Art. 59; Maryland Declaration of Rights, 
Art. 22; New Hampshire Declaration of Rights, (1784) Art. 33; North Carolina 
Declaration of Rights, Art. 10; Pennsylvania Constitution, Sec. 29; Vermont 
Constitution, Sec. 26; Virginia Declaration of Rights, Sec. 9; Delaware Declara- 
tion of Rights, Art. 16. 

4 Art. 17. North Carolina Declaration of Rights, Art. 17; Pennsylvania 
Declaration of Rights, Art. 13; Vermont Declaration of Rights, Art. 15. 

5 Art. 16. Cf. Georgia Constitution, Art. 61 ; Maryland Declaration of Rights, 
Art. 38; New Hampshire Declaration of Rights, (1784) Art. 22; North Caro- 
lina Declaration of Rights, Art. 15; Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. 12; 
South Carolina Constitution, (1778) Art. 43; Vermont Declaration of Rights, 
Art. 14; Virginia Declaration of Rights, Art. 12; Delaware Declaration of 
Rights, Art. 23. 

6 Art. 17. Cf. Maryland Declaration of Rights, Art. 26; New Hampshire Declara- 
tion of Rights (1784), Art. 25; North Carolina Declaration of Rights, Art. 17; 
Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. 13; Vermont Declaration of Rights, Art. 
15 ; Virginia Declaration of Rights, Art. 13; Delaware Declaration of Rights, Art. 19. 

7 Art. 27. Cf. Maryland Declaration of Rights, Art. 28; New Hampshire 
Declaration of Rights (1784), Art. 27; Delaware Declaration of Rights, Art. 21. 



251] GOVERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 2 5 I 

The defence of civil liberty being practically complete, a 
further series of statements was made relative to the location 
of sovereignty and to the exercise of political rights. Thus 
it is declared that " the people alone have an incontestible, 
unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; 
and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their 
protection, safety, prosperity and happiness require it." 1 
Similarly: " The people of this Commonwealth have the 
sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, 
sovereign, and independent state;" 2 and as such power is 
thus vested all officers of government, " whether legislative, 
executive, or judicial, are their substitutes and agents, and 
are at all times accountable to them." 3 Naturally, the 

1 Art. 7. Cf. Maryland : " all government of right originates from the people, 
is founded in compact only, and instituted solely for the good of the whole." 
Poore, 817. Cf. North Carolina: "That all political power is vested in and de- 
rived from the people only." Ibid., 1409. 

Cf. Art. 4 of the Declaration of Rights of the New Hampshire proposed consti- 
tution, (1779) : "The whole and entire power of government of this State is vested 
in, and must be derived from the people thereof, and from no other source what- 
soever." Collections of New Hampshire Historical Society, iv., 155. Delaware 
Declaration of Rights, Art. 1 : " That all government of right originates from the 
people, is founded in compact only, and instituted solely for the good of the 
whole." Cf. Article on Connecticut in New York Packet, no. 12, Mar. 21, 1776. 

2 Art. 4. Cf New Hampshire (1784): "The people of this state have the 
sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and inde- 
pendent state, . . . ." Poore, 1281. 

Cf. Pennsylvania : " the community hath an indubitable, unalienable and in- 
defeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish government in such manner as shall 
be by that community judged most conducive to the public weal." Ibid., 1541. 

Rufus Choate said in 1853 : " ... by 1776 or certainly 1780 we grasped com- 
pletely the American idea that the people were the source of sovereignty; that 
they are equal; that they alone are to be represented in the popular branch of 
government, and that they are to be represented equally there." Debates and 
Proceedings of the Convention 0/1833, I. 886. 

3 Art. 5. Cf Maryland: "That all persons invested with the legislative or 
executive powers of government are the trustees of the public, and, as such, ac- 
countable for their conduct; . . . ." Poore, 817. Cf New Hampshire, (1784) : 
"All power residing originally in, and being derived from the people, all the 



252 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [252 

" people have a right, in an orderly and peaceable manner, 
to assemble to consult upon the common good ;" x to instruct 
their representatives ; and to address the legislature. 2 The 
people are urged to practice a "frequent recurrence to the 
fundamental principles of the constitution, and a constant 
adherence to those of piety, justice, moderation, temperance, 
industry, and frugality," and " to have a particular attention 
to all those principles, in the choice of their officers and 
representatives:" 3 since "they have a right to require of 
their law-givers and magistrates, an exact and constant ob- 
servance of them, in the formation and execution of the laws 
necessary for the good administration of the Common- 
wealth."* 



magistrates and officers of government, are their substitutes and agents, and at all 
times accountable to them." Poore, 1581. Delaware Declaration of Rights, 
Art. 5. 

" Proper Democracy is where the people have all the power in themselves, who 
choose whom they please for their head for a time, and dismiss him when they 
please; make their own laws, choose all their own officers, and replace them at 
pleasure." " The Interest of America " by " Spartanus," in Freeman's Journal, 
no. 4, June 15, 1776. 

Cf. Pennsylvania: "That all power being originally inherent in, and conse- 
quently derived from, the people; therefore all officers of government, whether 
legislative or executive, are their trustees and servants, and at all times account- 
able to them." Poore, 1541. 

Action of New Salem, February I, 15, 1773: "we take it for Granted: that 
Governors are the trustees of Society: . . . We think Likewise that all trustees 
are in reason answerable to those who have Lodged a trust in their hands." Re- 
volutionary Corresp., I., 676, 680. Bancroft Collection. 

x Art. 19. Cf. New Hampshire Declaration of Rights (1784), Art. 32; North 
Carolina Declaration of Rights, Art. 18; Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, 
Art. 16; Vermont Declaration of Rights, Art. 18. 

2 Cf. Maryland Declaration of Rights, Art. II. 

3 Art. 18. Cf. Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. 14; Cf. Virginia Dec- 
aration of Rights, Art. 15; Vermont Declaration of Rights, Art. 16. 

*Art. 18. 



253] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 253 

" All elections ought to be free;" 1 those eligible have an 
equal right both to elect and to be elected. But that those 
elected may not become oppressors, " the people have a 
right, at such periods and in such manner as they shall es- 
tablish by their frame of government, to cause their public 
officers to return to private life;" 2 while further consideration 
of the public service has the significant conclusion that " the 
idea of a man born a magistrate, law-giver, or judge, is 
absurd and unnatural." 3 

The legislature is the subject of certain articles, in which 
that branch is forbidden to pass any ex post facto laws 4 or to 
declare any subject guilty of treason or felony. 5 To sus- 
pend and to execute the laws is wholly within the compe- 
tence of the legislature; 6 in each house freedom of speech is 
assured; 7 and frequent sessions are recommended. 8 An 
equally important declaration is the twenty- third article: 

'Art. 9. Cf Maryland Declaration of Rights, Art. 5; New Hampshire Declara- 
tion of Rights (1784), Art. 11 ; Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. 7; Ver- 
mont Declaration of Rights, Art. 8; Virginia Declaration of Rights, Art. 6; 
Delaware Declaration of Rights, Art. 6. 

2 Art. 8. Cf. Maryland Declaration of Rights, Art. 4, 31 ; North Carolina Decla- 
ration of Rights, Art. 20; Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. 6; Vermont 
Declaration of Rights, Art. 7. The theory of this was well expressed by Samuel 
Johnston in his letter from Halifax, N. C, April 20, 1 776, to James Iredell : 
41 After all it appears to me that there can be no check on the Representatives 
of the people in a democracy, but the people themselves; and in order that the 
check may be more efficient, I would have annual elections." Jones, Defence 
of A'orth Carolina, 279, 280. 

3 Art. 6, Cf. Virginia Declaration of Rights, Art. 4. 

4 Art. 24. 

5 Art. 25, Cf. Maryland Declaration of Rights, Art. 16. 

fi Art. 20, Cf Virginia Declaration of Rights, Art. 7; Delaware Declaration of 
Rights, Art. 7. 

7 Art. 21, Cf. Maryland Declaration of Rights, Art. 8; New Hampshire Declara- 
tion of Rights (1784), Art. 30. 

8 Art. 22, Cf. New Hampshire Declaration of Rights (1784), Art. 31; Dela- 
ware Declaration of Rights, Art. 8. 



254 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [254 

"No subsidy, charge, tax, impost, or duties, ought to be es- 
tablished, fixed, laid, or levied, under any pretext whatso- 
ever, without the consent of the people, or their representa- 
tives in the legislature." 1 

Turning to matters of religion, it is stated to be " the duty 
of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons, to wor- 
ship " God. In the same article perfect freedom is assured 
to each one to worship " in the manner and season most 
agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience ; or for his 
religious profession or sentiments; provided he doth not dis- 
turb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious 
worship." 2 As has already been indicated, this, and espec- 

1 Cf. New Hampshire Declaration of Rights (1784), Art. 28; Maryland Decla- 
ration of Rights, Art. 12; North Carolina Declaration of Rights, Art. 16. 

2 Art. 2. Cf. Georgia Constitution, Art. 56; Cf. Maryland Declaration of 
Rights, Arts. 33, 34; Cf. New Hampshire Declaration of Rights (1784), Arts. 5, 
6; Cf New Jersey Constitution, Arts. 18, 19; Cf. New York Constitution, Art. 

.38; Cf. North Carolina Declaration of Rights, Art. 19; Cf Pennsylvania Decla- 
tion of Rights, Art. 2; Cf. South Carolina Constitution (1778), Art. 38; Cf Ver- 
mont Declaration of Rights, Art 3; Cf. Virginia Declaration of Rights. Art. 16; 
Cf. Delaware Constitution, Art. 29; Cf. Delaware Declaration of Rights, Arts. 2, 
3; Cf New Hampshire Declaration of Rights (1779), Art. 5: "The future leg- 
islature of this State shall make no laws to infringe the rights of conscience, or 
any other of the natural, unalienable Rights of Men, or contrary to the laws of 
God, or against the Protestant religion." Collections of the A r ew Hampshire His- 
torical Society \ IV '., 155. 

In the Mass. Convention of 1820 Mr. Dearborn, of Roxbury, said : "Of the 
constitutions of the several United States, those of this State and of Maryland were 
the only ones which were marked by bigotry and ecclesiastical intolerance. This 
was owing to peculiar circumstances existing at the time of their adoption. 
These circumstances are passed away." Journal of the Constitution of 1820, 171. 

Speaking of this, Mr. Hubbard, in 1820, "denied that our happiness and good 
morals were owing to the third article; on the contrary that article grew out of 
our good morals. . . . No law was passed until 1800 to enforce this provision; 
so that it remained for twenty years a dead letter, . . ." Ibid. 397. 

The Address of the Convention of 1820 stated: " It is known to us that the 
eminent men who framed the constitution under which we have lived bestowtd 
on the only article of the declaration of rights which has occasioned much dis- 
cussion among us the greatest attention." Ibid., 623. 



2 5 5 ] G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA C II USE TTS 25$ 

ially the succeeding article, occasioned, both in and out of 
the convention, a vigorous debate. The latter article is not- 
able for its spirit of New England theocracy. Its provisions 
rest on the assumption that " good order and preservation of 
civil government, essentially depend upon piety, religion and 
morality;" 1 to secure which the people assert their right to 
direct the legislature to " authorize and require the several 
towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies-politic, or re- 
ligious societies, to make suitable provision, at their own ex- 
pense, for the institution of the public worship of God, and 
for the support and maintenance of public protestant teachers 
of piety, religion and morality, in all cases where such pro- 
vision shall not be made voluntarily." The selection of 
public teachers is left to the towns, societies, or other bodies. 
The money paid by each man shall, if he require it, be used 
for the support of a teacher of his own denomination, " pro- 
vided there be any on whose instructions he attends : other- 
wise it may be paid towards the support of the teacher or 
teachers of the parish or precinct in which the said monies 
are raised." Equal protection of the law was accorded to all 
denominations of peaceable Christians, and the subordina- 
tion of one sect or denomination to another was never to be 
established by law. The whole article was made still more 
tangible to each citizen by the action of the people in assum- 
ing to themselves the right to invest the legislature "with 
authority to enjoin upon all subjects an attendance upon the 
instructions of the public teachers aforesaid, at stated times 

1 Art. 3, as reported October 28, 1779, began : " Good morals being necessary 
to the preservation of civil society," the legislature has the " right, and ought, to 
provide at the expense of the subject, if necessary, a suitable support for the pub- 
lic worship of God, and of the teachers of religion and morals; and to enjoin 
upon all the subjects an attendance upon their instructions, at stated times and 
seasons; Provided there be any such teacher en whose ministry they can con- 
scientiously and conveniently attend." The article then contained nothing 
further, except the clause, as in the text, on the disposal of money paid for such 
support. Journal of the Convention, 193. 



256 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [256 

and seasons, if there be any on whose instructions they can 
conscientiously and conveniently attend." . 

The conclusion of the declaration of rights as reported 
October '28, 1779, was as follows: "The judicial depart- 
ment of the State ought to be separate from, and indepen- 
dent of, the legislative and executive powers." 1 This theory 
of government had been vigorously supported ; in it was 
supposed to be a safeguard of liberty; and to it in theory 
there was a strong prejudice. This made natural the de- 
velopment of the theory from the earlier crude statement to 
the following : " In the government of this commonwealth, 
the legislative department shall never exercise the executive 
and judicial powers, or either of them. The executive shall 
never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of 
them. The judicial shall never exercise the legislative or ex- 
ecutive powers, or either of them : to the end it may be a gov- 
ernment of laws and not of men." 2 While those parts of the 
declaration of rights pertaining to civil rights were a normal 
expression of free Englishmen of the time, while the utterances 
which it contained on political rights and on sovereignty were 
purely a definition of the Revolution, and while the pro- 
visions on religion were a not unnatural outcome of a Mass- 

1 Art. 31. The bill of rights of October 28, 1779, contained 31 articles, but ar- 
ticles 12 and 14 were combined in Art. 12 of the later draft; the later form, how- 
ever, omitted the provision for a unanimous vote in jury trials. 

2 Georgia Constitution, Art. 1 : " The legislative, executive, and judiciary de- 
partments shall be separate and distinct, so that neither exercise the powers pro- 
perly belonging to the other." Cf. Maryland Declaration of Rights, Art. 6; Cf. 
North Carolina Declaration of Rights, Art. 4; Cf. Virginia Declaration of Rights, 
Art. 5 : " That the legislative and executive powers of the State should be sepa- 
rate and distinct from the judiciary; . . . ." 

New Hampshire Declaration of Rights (1784), Art. 37: " In the government 
of this state, the three essential powers thereof, to wit, the legislative, executive 
and judicial, ought to be kept as separate from and independent of each other, as 
the nature of a free government will admit, or as is consistent with that claim of 
connection that binds the whole fabric of the constitution in one indissoluble 
bond of union and amity." 



257] G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 257 

achusetts convention of the time, the tripartite division of 
government appears as one of the new and striking products 
of the eighteenth century. 1 Although owing its inception to 
no originality of the Americans, it was due to their clear 
understanding of political relations, to their insistence upon 
the most careful expression of those relations, that it at this 
time became a part of the constitutional system of the 
American commonwealths. 2 Such in theory, it was other- 
wise in fact; for the theory and the actual situation could 
rarely, if ever, coincide, 3 although in many points an approx- 
imate coincidence would be attained, and the independence, 
thus, of each branch of government assured. 

The remainder of the constitution comprised the " frame 
of government," at the opening of which the position earlier 
stated was reaffirmed ; there again the people "solemnly and 
mutually agree with each other, to form themselves into a 
free, sovereign, and independent body-politic or state." The 

1 Joseph Story said in 1820: "Our whole system of government is novel. It is 
a great experiment in the science of politics. The very principle of representa- 
tion and the theory of a division of powers is of modern origin, as are many of 
our dearest and most valuable institutions." Journal of the Convention 0/1820, 
290. 

2 Journal of the Convention of 1820, 267. 

3 Cf. Speech of Daniel Webster, in 1S20: "Nor has it been found easy, nor in 
all cases possible, to preserve the judicial department from the progress of legis- 
lative encroachment. ... As if Montesquieu had never demonstrated the neces- 
sity of separating the departments of government; as if Mr. Adams had not done 
the same thing, with equal ability, and more clearness, in his defence of the 
American Constitution; as if the sentiments of Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Madison 
were already forgotten; we see, all around us, a tendency to extend the legis- 
lative power over the proper sphere of the other departments. ... If we look 
through the several constitutions of the states, we shall perceive that generally 
the departments are most distinct and independent, where the legislature is com- 
posed of two houses, with equal authority, and mutual checks. If all legislative 
power be in one popular body, all other power, sooner or later, will be there 
also." Journal of the Conventio?i of 1820, 306, 307. Cf Ibid., 475, 476. Cf 
J. Adams to R. Rush, May 14, 1821. Works of John Adams, X., 397. Cf 
Elliot, Debates, II., ^04, 505 ; III., 608. 



258 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [258 

organization of this commonwealth was along the lines indi- 
cated, and of the six chapters of the " frame" the first three 
were devoted, respectively, to the legislative, the executive, 
and the judicial power. 

To the provision for a bicameral legislature was attached 
the grant to each house of a negative on the other. Thus 
assured of their favorite "check and balance" system 1 , the 
constructive work could proceed on the broad lines incident 
thereto. Yet their theories were accentuated in practice by 
the adoption for each house of a different basis of represen- 
tation. The forty senators, thus, were assigned to several 
districts, coincident then with the counties for the sake of 
convenience, 2 in " the proportion of public taxes paid by the 
said Districts;" but with the limitations that there should 
never be less than thirteen districts, and that no district 
should ever be entitled to more than six senators. 3 The 
lower house, in distinction, was intended as " a representa- 
tion of the people, annually elected, and founded upon the 
principle of equality." Its number was not fixed, but the 
principle of town representation was adopted, with a modifi- 
cation admitting the effect of the relative size of town popu- 
lations. Thus, while a single representative was allowed to 
every town already incorporated, no town thereafter 4 was to 
be incorporated or be entitled to a representative unless it 
contained 150 " rateable polls," 5 each increase of 225 over 

1 Cf. Elliot, Debates, II., 103. 

2 A single exception to this was the union of Nantucket and Dukes in a single 
district. 

a In the convention of 1820, Mr. Flint, of Reading, said : " Had it not been for 
six words in the constitution, relative to the apportionment of senators, the people 
never would have called this Convention." Journal of the Convention of 1820^ 
1 33. Cf Debates and Proceedings of the Convention of/8jj, 845. 

4 Cf Debates and Proceedings of the Convention ofiSjj, 869. 

5 In the convention of 1820 it was proposed to make population instead of polls 
the basis of representation. Of the computation on polls, Mr. Lawrence then 



259] G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA chuse tts 2 $g 

which number entitled the town to an additional representa- 
tive. Differing in this respect, each house, however, was 
elected annually, and by virtually the same electors, the sen- 
ators being chosen by the male inhabitants of the respective 
senatorial district, twenty-one years of age, owning within the 
commonwealth a freehold estate of the annual income of £$, 
or any estate of the value of £60. The electors of the lower 
house must have similar general qualification, and must have 
resided in the town where they voted for one year next pre- 
ceding the election ; and in the matter of the alternative 
property qualification, the freehold estate of £3 must in this 
case lie in the town of residence. Turning to the qualifica- 
tions of the legislators, a senator must have been an inhabi- 
tant of the commonwealth for five years immediately preced- 
ing his election, he must at the time of his election be a resi- 
dent of the district choosing him, and he must further own a 
freehold estate in the commonwealth of ^300, or an estate, 
either personal or mixed, of £600. In a representative it 
was essential that for one year immediately preceding his 
election he should have been both a resident and an owner 
of a freehold estate of ;£ioo in the town he represented; an 
alternative property qualification was the ownership of any 
" rateable estate " valued at £200. On ceasing to be thus 
qualified a loss of his seat would result. 

" presumed this basis never would have been adopted, if there had been at the 
time of the framing of the constitution any provision for the periodical enumera- 
tion of the inhabitants. Polls did not before that time form the basis of repre- 
sentation. By the laws of 1692 and 1776, the number of freeholders was the 
basis. There was at the time of the formation of the constitution no mode of 
ascertaining the number of inhabitants; but there was of rateable polls." Jour- 
nal of the Convention of 1820, 244. Speaking upon this matter in 1820, Joseph 
Story, of Salem, later Chief Justice, uttered a noteworthy sentence : " I have 
lived long enough to know that in any question of government, something is to be 
yielded up on all sides. Conciliation and compromise lie at the origin of every 
free government; and the question never was and never can be, what is abso- 
lutely best, but what is relatively wise, just and expedient." Ibid., 289. 



2 6o FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH V 2 6o 

The quorum of the senate was fixed at sixteen and of the 
house at sixty ; the processes of popular election were indi- 
cated, as were also the principal powers of the legislature. 
Chief among these last was the power to erect all courts "for 
the hearing, trying, and determining of all manner of crimes, 
offenses, pleas, processes, plaints, actions, matters, causes, 
and things whatsoever, arising or happening within the Com- 
monwealth, or between or concerning persons inhabiting or 
residing, or brought within the same ; whether the same be 
criminal or civil, . . . capital or not capital, . . . real, per- 
sonal, or mixt; ..." Provision was made for a decennial 
valuation of estates. The trial of impeachments was vested 
in the senate alone. The usual legislative function of law- 
making was expanded into an enumeration of the proper 
objects, such as the public welfare and defence, the crea- 
tion and control of an administrative and of a military system, 
the provision of a revenue, and the disposal, under executive 
warrant, of the public funds. 1 The usual privileges of legis- 
lative bodies were assured, and provision made for annulling 
an executive veto by the passage of the returned bill by a 
two-thirds vote in each house. 

The executive of Massachusetts was, as were the legisla- 
tors, elected for a single year ; electors of the latter were en- 
titled to vote for the former, but more than one phase of the 
philosophy of the time was emphasized in the provisions that 
the chief executive should have been an inhabitant of the 
state for seven years immediately preceding his election, that 
he should own a freehold of £1000 in the state, and that he 
should "declare himself to be of the Christian religion." The 
calling, proroguing, and dissolving of the legislature, the 

1 In the convention of 1820 Josiah Quincy, referring to the convention of 1780, 
said: "They had no difficulty in providing that all the powers which were then 
possessed by the Provincial legislature, should continue to be exercised by the 
General Court of the Commonwealth, with the limitation which before existed." 
Journal of the Convention of 1820, 73. 



26 1 ] GO VERNMENT IN MASSA CHUSE TTS 2 6 1 

power of pardon, the appointment of all judicial officers, of 
sheriffs, coroners, and registers of probate, of the attorney-gen- 
eral and solicitor-general, and the power to grant, by warrant, 
the public money, were vested in the governor ; but in each in- 
stance with a limitation which presented a peculiar institution. 
From the senate were chosen nine men by the two houses ; their 
seats remained vacant ; if nine did not consent to the new service 
the completion was effected by the election of men at large. 
No more than two councillors were to be taken from any 
one senatorial district ; and the nine, with the lieutenant-gov- 
ernor, were to advise the governor, and " hold and keep a 
Council, for the ordering and directing the affairs of the 
commonwealth, according to the laws of the land. 1 " 

Completing the executive department, the third chapter 
provided also for the annual election by joint ballot of sen- 
ators and representatives, of a secretary, treasurer and 
receiver-general, a commissary, naval officers, and notaries 
public. The secretary was to be responsible for the keep- 
ing of the state records, and no one was to be treasurer and 
receiver-general more than five years successively, in order, 
as was quaintly stated, that the citizens " may be assured, 
from time to time, that the monies remaining in the public 
treasury, upon the settlement and liquidation of the public 
accounts, are their property, . . . ." 2 

Under the legislative powers provision was made for the 
erection of courts. Chapter three added a variety of minor 
regulations, such as that the probate courts should be held on 

1 Cf Debates and Proceedings of the Convention of iSjj, I., 502. Journal of 
the Convention of 1820, 209. Cf Brooks Adams, Emancipation of Massachusetts, 
306. 

2 Northampton, May 22, 1780, expressed the wish that the clause on the treas- 
urer's term of office " should be expressed in such Manner that the People may 
understand the Reason why the Treasurer cannot with Safety to the Common- 
wealth hold his Office more than five years." Hawley Papers, II., Bancroft Col- 
lection. 



262 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH Y 2 62 

fixed days at such places " as the convenience of the people 
shall require," that the powers of justices of the peace should 
not continue for more than seven years without renewal, that 
the tenure of all officers holding by commission should be 
expressly stated therein, and that all judicial officers, unless 
otherwise directed by the constitution, should hold during 
good behavior, subject only to removal by the governor, 
with the consent of the council, and on the address of both 
houses of the legislature. The only further step of import- 
ance was the inclusion in this chapter of a duty foreign to 
an independent judiciary and inconsistent with the theory 
of the tripartite division of government. It was decreed as 
follows : " Each branch of the Legislature, as well as the 
Governor and Council, shall have authority to require the 
opinions of the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court, upon 
important questions of law, and upon solemn occasions." 1 

One typical peculiarity of the Massachusetts constitution 
was the careful manner in which the corporate privileges 
and property rights of the President and Fellows of Harvard 
College, acquired through the Act of General Court of 1642, 
and by gifts and grants at various other times, were con- 
firmed to them. 2 The continuance of the instituting act in 
force throughout the revolutionary period was recognized, 
and the officers were named who should represent the com- 

1 In 1820 Mr. Story said that "it was exceedingly important that the judiciary 
department should, in the language of the constitution, be independent of the 
other departments; and for this purpose, that it should not be in the power of 
the latter to call in the judges to aid them for any purpose. If they were liable 
to be called on, there was extreme danger that they would be required to give 
opinions in cases which should be exclusively of a political character." Journal 
of the Convention 0/1820, 489. Cf. J bid., 629. 

2 Josiah Quincy in the Convention of 1820: "The gentleman's argument pro- 
ceeded upon the principle that the constitution made some alteration in the 
charter of Harvard College. But it was not so. . . . The great men who formed 
the constitution of 1780, knew how sacred pre-existing chartered rights were." 
Journal of the Convention of 1820, 72. 



263] GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS 2 6$ 

monwealth on the Board of Overseers, as during the contin- 
uance of the province charter the governor, deputy-governor, 
and magistrates had done; but it was further "provided that 
nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the Legislature 
of this Commonwealth from making such alterations in the 
government of the said university, as shall be conducive to 
its advantage, and the interest of the republic of letters, in as 
full a manner as might have been done by the Legislature 
of the late Province of the Massachusetts-Bay." 1 

The fifth chapter 2 contained a further section not found in 
the earlier constitutions. This was a general exhortation to 
a diffusion of " wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue," to 
the encouragement of agriculture, arts, commerce, and man- 
ufactures, to the support of institutions of learning, and to 
the development of " public and private charity, industry, 
and frugality, honesty, .... good humor, and all social 
affections and generous sentiments among the people." 3 

The sixth, and concluding, chapter included a variety of 
matters, such as the forms of oaths of office, of writs, com- 
missions, and the enacting style, the continuance, until altered 
or made void, of all laws previously " adopted, used and ap- 
proved in the Province, Colony or State of Massachusetts 
Bay," and the continuance in office, until the appointment 
of successors, of officers serving under commission of the 
existing government. The unbroken existence of courts and 
other branches of government was assured until the new sys- 
tem went into operation. The disabilities incident to plural- 
ity of offices were stated. Provision was also made for grant- 

1 Chap. V., Sec. 1, Art. 3. 

2 The fourth chapter was devoted to the election, term, commission, and tenure, 
of delegates to the Continental Congress. 

3 Into the New Hampshire Constitution of 1784 this section was introduced 
almost bodily, although with slight changes, as of " economy " for " frugality," 
and of " sobriety " for " good humor." 



264 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [264 

ing to the inhabitants both of towns and of unincorporated 
plantations an opportunity, in the year 1795, to express 
" their sentiments on the necessity or expediency of revising 
the Constitution," an affirmative action on which was to be 
followed by the summoning of a constitutional convention. 

§ 3. Submission of the Constitution 

The new constitution and the accompanying address of the 
constituent convention were immediately distributed to the 
several boards of selectmen, and for a second time the people 
of Massachusetts were called upon to exercise the highest 
function of a state in the ratification or rejection of a proposed 
form of government. Again the vigor and the breadth of 
the political education of the people were apparent and were 
influential. As was the case two years before, the action 
was much more than one of assent or of dissent. The re- 
fusal to consider the instrument en bloc led to a multitude of 
local discussions on each paragraph, resulted in a bewilder- 
ing variety of action, and occasioned the production of a 
mass of material, controversial and explanatory, by which 
the towns aimed to establish the reasonableness of their 
views and votes. Considering the large majority secured 
against the constitution of 1778 by public criticism, the still 
larger mass of criticisms and queries and suggestions di- 
rected against the constitution of 1780 rendered the success- 
ful ratification of the latter document problematical. How- 
ever, owing to the striking variety of preferences and criti- 
cisms with reference to the several parts of the document, a 
dangerously large negative vote was approached in only a 
few cases ; and fortunately even in those the towns often ex- 
pressed their willingness to yield their opposition rather than 
by it to cause the defeat of the last step toward reconstruction. 

The process of submission was made sufficiently simple by 
the undisturbed continuance of the local governments ; the 



265] GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS 26$ 

action of the town-meeting was direct and effective, and even 
for a work of so important a nature there was little delay 
aside from that occasioned by the adjournments of the town- 
meetings to afford to their committees time for the prepara- 
tion of their reports. In the adoption of these reports, of 
varying size and excellence, the towns formally and deliber- 
ately expressed their views ; some reached the end more 
simply by single direct votes, but the number of such latter 
cases was small enough to give to the series the type of the 
former. In their mode of action 1 and report 2 there was 
general similarity ; in the contents of the returns there were 
shown the extremes of divergence ; and by the material of 
the reports a wide range of political theory and practice was 
covered. Hardly a point escaped the notice of the local 
politician. Thus even the address of the convention drew 
from Medway the admission that, although no part of the 
constitution, it was "not onely Polite but very Plosible."3 
Bellingham, with an effort at sarcasm, likewise voted: "We 
agreed the Address set forth before the Bill of Rights is no 
Part of the forme of Government." 4 So, too, the section on 
Harvard University, although a portion giving rise to no 

1 But Cf. Gloucester, May 22, 1780: "The Constitution was read, & those for 
accepting were desired to walk round the Meeting House to the Eastward & 
those against to walk the other way — 48 Walked to Eastward, none the other way. 
Col. Foster and Capt. Sargent said they objected to it." Lincoln Papers. 

2 As a type of several, Cf. So. Brimfield, whose selectmen, May 29, 1780, wrote 
on the back of a printed copy of the Constitution: "pursuant to the Resolve of 
the Convention we have Laid this Constitution and Frame of Government before 
our town and they have after mature Consideration voted as we have inserted in 
the foregoing pages." Mass. Archives. E.g., the vote of Stockbridge is en- 
closed in the Moderator's letter of appointment to one of the Delegates; the 
letter ends : " P. S. — Your Family is well." 

3 Dated June 6, Mass. Archives. The material attributed to the Mass. Archives 
without volume or page has been drawn from a package of manuscripts which 
had not, at the time of examination, been bound or numbered. 

* April 24-June 5, Mass. Archives. 



2 66 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ 2 66 

strenuous contest, occasioned in Petersham the fear that the 
institution would endanger the liberties of the public through 
its excess of corporate riches, while its rejection by Belling- 
ham was coupled with a suggestion that the accounts of the 
institution be published. The further observation was 
added : " We have litle kowledge of said University." 1 In 
the treatment of more important matters there was an evident 
thoroughness, from Medway's proposal of a governor's mes- 
sage at every session of the assembly to Chelsea's vote, "That 
the Scheme of Rotation be adopted in the principal Depart- 
ment of Government." 2 

The lack of a bill of rights contributed materially toward 
the rejection of the constitution of 1778; in 1780 some of 
the sharpest discussions were occasioned by the contents of 
the new bill of rights. Especially did the third article 
arouse the public. Ashfield bluntly declared that this was 
" unconstitutional to human Nature, And no Precept in y e 
word of God to Support it." To the people was given the 
power to invest the legislature with authority to require 
local provision for " the institution of the public worship of 
God, and of public instruction in piety, religion, and moral- 
ity;" and to enjoin attendance upon such services. This, 
with its context, the town of Middleborough declared to be 
" unmeaning or otherwise admits of Different meanings." 
With more dignity Granville objected, because ■' True Reli- 
gion has evidently declined & been currupted by the inter- 
ference of Statemen & Politicians." Gorham opposed the 
article on the ground that it was an invasion of property 
rights. 3 Bellingham demanded freedom of worship and con- 
science, and opposed compulsory rates for church support. 
Such rates, too, were opposed in the Massachusetts Spy } A by 

1 Report attested, June 5, 1780, Mass. Archives. 

3 May 9-June 1, Mass. Archives. 

3 Boston Gazette, No. 1346; June 12, 1780. 4 No. 471, May 18, 1780. 



267] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 2 6y 

"Libertatis Amici," who threatened that thousands would 
refuse submission to such an establishment. In the Boston 
town-meeting this third article occasioned " much but candid 
debate," 1 which ended in the proposal of the article in a 
modified form, and in the statement of the position of 
Boston as a recognition of the freedom of the minority, 
while stress was also laid upon the necessity of some religious 
establishments for all, and for which all should pay. 2 But 
even the modification suggested by Boston was opposed. 
Reasons for such opposition were promptly given by "A 
Freeholder," who, insisting upon the incompetency of the 
civil powers to deal with religious questions, opposed both 
compulsory payments and legislative control of the clergy. 3 
The vigorous debate in the convention on the question of the 
civil establishment of religion was repeated in the press. 
Such writers as " Irenaeus, a Member of Convention," de- 
fended article 3, and his attention was mainly given to 
answering the " extemporaneous gabblings " of " Philanthro- 
pes," the opponent of the article, who would suggest that 
the effort to legislate for conscience and religion implied a 
charge of insufficiency against God's law. "This savors of 
fifth monarchy enthusiasm, that all civil government ought 
to be pulled down, that king Jesus alone may rule : . . . " 4 

1 Letter of Samuel Adams, Adams Papers, Bancroft Collection. He wrote also : 
" The Town of Boston have been in Meeting three Days upon this important 
Affair. The Town have unanimously agreed to the Constitution with a few 
Alterations (I think for the better) except the Third Article." 

2 AIass. Archives ; Cf. Boston Gazette, No. 1342, May 15, 1780. 

3 Boston Gazette, No. 1343, May 22, 1780. 

* Boston Gazette, Nos. 1349, 1350, July 3, 10, 1780. Articles by " Philanthropos " 
appeared in the Boston Gazette, Nos. 1350, 1353, 1355, 1356, dwelling on the 
method, not the fact, of supporting worship. He cites Penn., N. Y., N. J., and 
Va. on confining the civil powers to civil matters. " Irenaeus " has articles in 
Boston Gazette, Nos. 1349, 1350, and one continued article in Boston Gazette, 
Nos. 1365, 1370, 1373, 1374, Oct. 23, Nov. 27, Dec. 18, 25, 1780. He claims a 
victory for the supporters of Article 3. 



2 68 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [26$ 

The bill of rights in its sixteenth article stated that the 
liberty of the press was essential to freedom, and so should 
not be restrained. This drew from the town of Dunstable 1 
a plea for the restraint of the press, lest they " Dishonour 
god by printing herasy;" and Chelsea 2 asked for the 
article the following addition : " But as its freedom is not 
such as to Exempt any printer or printers from being 
answerable for false Dafamitory and abusive Publications." 
The other tendency, that toward unrestrained expression, 
was represented by Stoughton's 3 proposed addition of liberty 
of speech, by Milton's 4 inclusion of freedom of speech in 
town-meetings, and by Boston's insistence upon freedom of 
speech for public men, " an essential and darling right of 
every member of a free state." 5 The position of the towns 
on the general subject of absolute personal freedom was in- 
dicated from another point of view in the various votes oc- 
casioned by the article on the writ of habeas corpus. With 
abundant demands for the fullest toleration of personal ac- 
tivity, there appeared at points a lamentable absence of 
breadth. Thus a strong and wide expression was given to 
the demand for the qualification of oaths of office by the in- 
sertion of the word " Protestant" either before or in place of 
the word " Christian." The town of Lexington 6 presented a 
long reason for inserting this "word, which took Rise from 
the pious, noble and truly heroic Stand, which Luther and the 
first Reformers, . . . made," and Roxbury 7 voted that such 
insertion " seems to us necessary to secure the peace and 
tranquility of the State, as well as to the promotion of that 
Religion which our venerable Forefathers suffered every- 
thing but death, to establish." 

1 May 15-30, 1780, Mass. Archives. 2 May 9, 23, June I, 1780, Ibid. 

3 May 24-31, 1780, Mass. Archives. * May 22, 1780, Ibid. 

5 May 12: Boston Gazette, no. 1342, May 15, 1780. The action of Boston, in 
full, is in Boston Town Records, xxvi., 125-135. 

6 May 22, June 5, 1780, Mass. Archives. 7 May 17, 1780, Ibid. 



269] G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 269 

The important question of the suffrage qualification drew 
forth a series of proposals expressing mainly the relative 
importance attributed in each locality to property and to 
polls. It was usually a matter of degree ; but again there 
were instances in which a property qualification was not 
«ven given consideration. Thus, while Wrentham 1 voted 
simply, " that the representatives elected in each town ought 
to be Representatives of the property as well as the per- 
sons," the town of Richmond 2 would ask for no qualification 
but the possession of a certificate of " sober Life and Con- 
versation" given to the voter by the selectmen. The town of 
Colerain 3 would grant the suffrage to every male of full age 
who should be recognized as " a friend to the Independance 
of said State & of Sober Life and Conversation," and the 
extreme was reached by Stoughton 4 when, in connection 
with the inconsistent proposal that the suffrage should be 
granted to all resident, tax-paying males of full age, the town 
declared: " Ye right of election is not a civil; but it is na- 
tural right, which ought to be consider'd as a principle cor- 
ner-stone in y e foundation for y e frame of Government to 
stand on ; consequently it is unsystematical and contrary to 
y e rules of architecture to place, or make it dependent on 
y e frame, . . ." 

The narrow range of influence of many of the views at 
this time brought forward, limited strictly the results attain- 
able therefrom. Thus the constitution, as established, did 
not greatly differ from the constitution of the convention 
either in regard to freedom of conscience, freedom of expres- 
sion, or the suffrage. Equally without definite results were 
the many proposals to alter the provisions relative to repre- 
sentation. The constitution passed from submission to 
promulgation with no change even in this part, with reference 

1 May 8, 26, 1780, Mass. Archives. 2 May 29, 1780, Ibid. 

3 May 26, 17^0, Ibid. 4 May 24-31, 178c, Ibid. 



270 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [270 

to which so many towns proposed abundant alterations. 
Their proposals, to be sure, consisted in a variety of mathe- 
matical statements ; of this character were the larger number 
of schemes presented, although in the history of the move- 
ment note should be made of the action of those towns 
which insisted upon the propriety and the justice of accord- 
ing representation to every town. 1 In addition to such a 
claim, the town of Bellingham, for instance, would grant two 
representatives to every town of 400 taxable polls ; three to 
a town of 800 such ; four to one of 1,600 ; and five, the maxi- 
mum representation, to a town of 3,200 taxable polls. The 
town of Monson also took five as the largest representation 
to be granted to the most populous towns, and would grant 
fewer representatives to the other towns in proportion " to 
their bigness." The town of Medway proposed that eight 
should be the largest number of representatives allowed; 2 
and there was frequently a recognition of the fitness of 
allowing to such towns as Boston an especially large repre- 
sentation. Monson would not limit to Boston the maximum 
representation, and Oakham 3 would allow more than one rep- 
resentative only to Boston and five or six other seaport 
towns of some size ; while Lanesborough would recognize 
three grades and give to Boston, as in the constitution, four 
representatives, to the six towns next in size two representa- 
tives each, and to all other towns only a single representative 
each. At the same time the ratio of representation was 
subjected to numerous schemes of revision ; and abandon- 
ment of the long established unit of representation was even 

1 E.g., Mansfield, Norton, Wilbraham, Wrentham Bellingham. 

2 Giving 1 representative for 100 voters, 2 for 300 voters, 3 for 600, 4 for icoo,. 
5 for 1500, 6 for 2100, 7 for 2800. 

A Oakham made a second proposal, assigning one representative to all towns, 2 
representatives to towns of 500 ratable polls, 3 to towns of 1000, 4 to towns of 
1500, etc. 



2 7 1 ] GO VERNMENT IN MA SSA CHUSE TTS 2 Jl 

threatened. Presumably with laudable motives, the town of 
New Salem suggested a house of not over 200 members from 
as many districts, and claimed that on such an entirely new 
arrangement could be established a plan of permanence. 1 
But amid these inventions appeared a distinct type in Athol, 
which town conservatively recommended the reestablishment 
of the laws of 1770 concerning representation. The pro- 
posals of future constitutional changes and the efforts to 
revive earlier practices alike were fruitless. Excellence of 
theory without sufficient ballots was unavailing; a mass of 
opinion was suggestive and at some time might prove useful; 
but for the present the constitution of 1780 was to stand as 
the embodiment of what the men of Massachusetts regarded 
as the highest and truest political conceptions of their day. 
Not only was it so in regard to the points mentioned, but 
also in regard to all points at issue. Even the many 
demands for radical change in the construction of the legis- 
lative branch effected no result; 2 and in the qualifications for 
office holders no change was made, in spite of Middlebor- 
ough's pungent comment: "We find that money makes 
Senators and not men :...." 

The action of the people in their consideration of the pro- 
posed form of government thus involved expression upon all 
matters of theory and of practice from the beginning to the 
end of the political philosophy of the time. Although in- 
effectual, the activity of the towns was of more than transitory 
significance. It expressed the trend of public thought; 
but it did more. A view of the activity of the year can- 

1 Likewise Mendon proposed a house of representatives from as many districts 
as there were members. 

2 On this point West Springfield and Southborough voted to abolish the senate; 
Westminster, Middleborough, Athol, Oakham, Walpole, Bellingham and Medway 
would abolish the council; Petersham, Athol and Bellingham would discard a 
governor. Petersham evolved a plan of giving to each house a negative on the 
other for seven days, to be followed by a joint session. 



2 J2 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH r 2 y 2 

not be concluded without reference to the frequent and out- 
spoken assertions of local independence. 1 Thus there were 
repeated demands for the establishment of a registry of deeds 
and of a probate court in every town; 2 the election and con- 
trol of the appropriate officers therefor was considered a 
proper function of the town, 3 and there are indications, as 
well, of a desire to increase the prominence of the county as 
an electoral and administrative unit at the sacrifice of some 
of the functions of the larger unit. 4 The beginnings of con- 
stitutional disintegration arid the prevalence of pronounced 
divergence of views, nevertheless, failed to produce the un- 
fortunate result which they seemed to portend. 5 Especially 

1 Cf. vote of Lee, March 9, 1779, " that we hold ourselves bound to support the 
Civil Authority of this State for the sum of one year, and Bound to obey the laws 
of this State." Quoted in Hyde, Centennial History of Lee, 161. Berkshire 
county, throughout the period, was continually asserting local rights and hamper- 
ing the provincial government. Thus, on August 26, 1778, a convention of town 
delegates had been held at Pittsfield, by which a petition was sent to the General 
Court asking that a special convention should be called to form a constitution and 
bill of rights. They admitted that their county was the first in which the royal 
courts had been closed, but they denied that they were a " mobbish, ungovernable, 
refractory, licentious, and disolute People." If their appeal should not be granted, 
they would petition the Committee of Safety, and if given no satisfaction by them, 
they suggested that " there are other States, which have Constitutions who will we 
doubt not, as bad as we are, gladly receive us, . . ." This was signed by 26 
delegates from 18 towns, and was read in the council, October 16, 1778. Mass. 
Archives, 184: 196-198. 

' 2 Thus, as to one point, or both; Bellingham, Medway, Wrentham, Holliston, 
Scituate, Warwick; the town of Lanesborough voted "That there be a Court of 
Probate in every rigiment." Cf. Daggett, History of Attlebororgh, 123; Stough- 
ton, Mass. Archives, 160: 266-277. 

3 The action of Bellingham on this is especially plain. 

4 Thus Wilbraham would have the counties elect annually the justices of the 
Superior Court, the judges of probate, and the justices of the peace. Wilbra- 
ham proposed the election by counties of justices of the Inferior Court, justices 
of the peace, and judges of probate; and also urged an annual election of 
judges of the Superior Court. Bellingham suggests annual county assemblies for 
the election of all county officers. 

5 Cf. Works <?/"John Adams, IX., 5. ." 



2 7 3 1 G ° VERNMENT IN MA SSA CH USE TTS 273 

striking was the result in view of the movements from among 
which examples have been drawn. 1 Equally noteworthy was 
it that during this period Samuel Adams could write that 
the " great business was carried through with much good 
humor by the people, even in Berkshire, where some persons 
led us to expect it would meet with many obstructions." 
Yet in his next sentence he indicated one potent cause of 
the final harmony when he wrote : " Never was a good 
constitution more needed than at this juncture." 2 

The constitutional convention had, on March 2, adjourned 
for a recess which should cover the period allowed for the 
popular consideration of its work; the concluding session of 
the convention opened, on June 7, in the Brattle Street meet- 
ing-house at Boston. The membership was somewhat 
changed by the presentation of the credentials of new mem- 
bers, 3 but the earlier organization and practice in deliberative 
bodies allowed an immediate consideration of the prin- 

1 But Hawley in his criticism wrote : " I am well informed Gentlemen that a 
majority of the voters in divers towns have been induced to give their sanction to 
the said form of Government with all its imperfections from an earnest desire that 
some form of Government may be more firmly established in the State, than that 
which at present is exercised, and that, unless we should immediately unite in 
[some] plan we shall fall into absolute anarchy and never unite [in] any form 
whatever. I am Sirs, fully satisfied that the danger of such an event, has been 
unreasonably and extravagantly magnified by divers individuals." 

Referring to the resolution of March 2, 1780, and supposing an illiberal inter- 
pretation thereof by the Convention, Hawley made this further attack : " The 
case in truth will be That the State of the Massachusetts Bay, will have an Unad- 
vised, unconsulted, undiscussed, undigested, tautological, ragged, inconsistent, 
and in some parts unmeaning, not to say futile plan, established in it, for its con- 
stitution of Government." Hawley Papers, II., Bancroft Collection. 

2 Samuel Adams to John Adams, July 10, 1780. Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, 
HI., 103. So Pittsfield in its instructions expressed the opinion that the Consti- 
tution would be accepted by two-thirds of the voters, " as the Reins of Government 
are so relaxed & this County in particular so long deprived of all Law." Cf, 
Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, 2 Series, VIII., 290. 

3 New members reported as follows : \<~ n Tune 7, 12 on June 8, 3 on June 9, 
1 on June 12, 1 on June 13; Journal onvention, 170-178. 



274 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [274 

cipal, and practically the sole, work of the session, the recep- 
tion of the returns of the action of the towns and the 
possible preliminaries of promulgation. The returns received 
were at once referred to a committee, 1 which, on July 8 and 
July 12, made preliminary reports, stating on the latter date 
that returns from 174 towns had been received, and express- 
ing the difficulty of making immediately a complete report. 2 
The method of local procedure, which involved the possi- 
bility of a distinct vote by each town on every section of the 
constitution, rendered necessary an elaborate tabulation by 
the committee. 3 From this they were able to report a total 

1 At first a committee of 5; 7 were added, and later 12 were added; finally, on 
June 12, the number was further increased by 5. /did., 170-178. 

2 On June 13 it was voted that thereafter no more returns be received. Jour- 
nal of the Convention, 178. On June 14 the returns of 2 towns were received, 
and on June 15 those of 3 towns. Ibid., 179. 

3 Large portions of the Committee's manuscripts are in the Mass. Archives, 
although not bound or numbered at the time the writer used them. 

Thus there are posted in one set, but without totals completed, the returns for 
Plymouth, Barnstable and York Counties. Provision is made for 14, 10 and 17 
towns respectively, but some returns, especially from Barnstable County, were not 
given. 

Another set was stated to contain the returns of Middlesex, Dukes and Nantucket 
Counties; the word Middlesex was crossed off, but evidently the table contains 
returns simply from Middlesex County. The reports are from 42 towns. In the 
table one column throughout is given to the votes in case the amendment proposed 
by the town voting did not prevail; 30 double columns are given to the votes on 
the Bill of Rights, and 70 are given to the votes on the body of the Constitution. 
Of these towns, only two, Cambridge with 41 votes, and Townshend with 29 votes, 
gave a unanimous vote throughout in the affirmative. As to the numbers partici- 
pating in these acts, it may be noted that Charlestown recorded 21 voters, "New- 
town" 49, Chelmsford 103 and Concord 147. 

The table for Hampshire County shows a total of over 1800 voters; in few cases 
was the negative vote over 100. Article 3 of the Bill of Rights was accepted by 
a vote of 1 1 35 to 237. A vote conditioned on the success of their amendments 
was in the affirmative, 115 to 51, although peculiarly defective. 

The table for Worcester County shows over 2500 voters; returns from 44 towns 
are scheduled, among which are only three deficiencies. Article 3 of the Bill of 



2 j 5 ] GO VERNMENT TN MASS A CHUSE TTS 2 y$ 

vote of 5654 for the constitution and 2047 against it. 1 With 
the detailed report before it the convention proceeded to the 
last stages of the process in hand. Each article of the de- 
claration and of the " frame" was read separately before the 
convention and on each article in turn the question was put : 
" Is it your opinion that the people have accepted of this 
article ? — Which, upon every individual article, passed in 
the affirmative by a very great majority." 2 The convention 
refused to take a vote by yeas and nays on the constitution 
" in gross," but a motion " that the People of the State of 
Massachusetts Bay have accepted the Constitution as it 
stands in the printed form, submitted to their revision . . ." 
was "passed in the affirmative by a very great majority." 3 
The formalities of sanction being thus completed, the con- 
vention further, 4 apart from provision for prospective pro- 
mulgation, arranged for the inauguration of the first admin- 
istration under the new forms. On this closing day the 
convention relaxed sufficiently to ask the legislature " to 

Rights was accepted, by a vote of 1506 to 803. In case amendments should not 
prevail the vote was 482 to 65 in the affirmative. 

The table for Suffolk County includes 24 towns; if amendments prevailed, the 
vote was 592 to 34; if they did not prevail, 969 to 168. Boston voted fur article 3 
of the Bill of Rights, 277 to 140, and for its own amendments of the same, 420 to 
140. Boston's vote for the Constitution in case amendments should not prevail, 
was 747 to 140. 

1 Mass. Archives, 223: 192; cf, Mass, Archives, 223: 198-201. 

2 Journal of 'the Convention, 180. 
*Ibid., 180. 

*The Convention Resolves of June 16, as to the acceptance of the Constitution 
and the designation of the last Wednesday in October as the day for the inaugura- 
tion of the new government, with the signatures of Pres. Bowdoin and Sec'y 
Barrett, are in Mass. Archives, 171 : 180-182. 

The same, attested by Pres. Bowdoin and bearing the House endorsements as 
well as the Council endorsements of June 17 as to a committee thereon; and 
bearing also the committee report as to the election day preacher, are in Mass. 
Archives, 228: 448-451. Cf. Mass. Archives, 228: 447, 458. These resolves 
appeared in the Mass. Spy, no. 479, July 13, 1780. 



276 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH f 2 76 

order the provision for the usual entertainment had on the 
days of General Election, to be made on the last Wednesday 
in October next," 1 but at the same time the members showed 
their balance and devotion in refusing to pass a resolution 
asking the legislature to pay from the public treasury for the 
travel and attendance of members of the convention. 2 
Thanksgiving and prayer by the Rev. Mr. Thatcher con- 
cluded the proceedings of the day and of the convention, and 
the body thereupon dissolved. Of its acts in this last session 
the essential parts were announced to the public, under date 
of the day of adjournment, in a proclamation 3 by President 
Bowdoin, stating the acceptance of the constitution by two- 
thirds of those voting, and announcing further the appoint- 
ment of the first Monday in September as the day of the 
election of governor, lieutenant-governor, council and senate ; 
of any day in October ten days before the last Wednesday 
for the election of representatives ; and, finally, of the last 
Wednesday in October as the day established for the first 
meeting of the Great and General Court and for the organi- 
zation of the new government. 

x Journal of the Convention, 183. 
2 Ibid., 183. 
The text is in Ibid., 186, 187. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE TRANSITION COMPLETED 

In the same month in which the ratification of the new 
constitution was authenticated, the General Court passed an 
act, approved by the council, June 24, 1780/ which provided 
for the secure completion of the last step in the transition by 
giving to the council the right to exercise powers of suffi- 
ciently wide extent to meet any further emergency. Upon 
this body was conferred, for the period ending with the ope- 
ration of the constitution, practically complete control of 
civil and military affairs ; to it was given the authority to 
issue paper money, and to negotiate loans, under restrictions 
both as to amount and as to term, 2 on the credit of the com- 
monwealth ; and to it, as well, was given the discretionary 
power to call at an earlier date a special session of the new 
General Assembly, the formation of which was incident to 
the operation of the new constitution, and the first meeting 
of which had been appointed, in the plan for the new organ- 
ization of government, for the last Wednesday in October. 
No exigency requiring such modification of the original plan 
arose, and the period of such further provisional direction 
of all commonwealth affairs by the council was, after some 
four months, brought easily to an end, after the chief body 
had prepared for the succession by the issue of the usual 
precepts for the choice of a governor, lieutenant-governor, 
senate and house of representatives. After the ordinary 

1 Mass. Archives, 228 : 464-466. 

2 Limited to twelve months, and not to exceed ^60,000. 

277] 277 



2/8 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [^g 

processes of election 1 and return, the representatives met in 
Boston at the appointed time. 

John Hancock, 2 the newly elected governor, was then 
inaugurated. By him and by the legislators were taken the 
appropriate oaths of office. Before them all the customary 
election sermon was preached by Dr. Cooper, in " the. Old 
Brick Meeting-House," upon the highly significant text 
from Jeremiah : "And their congregation shall be estab- 
lished before me ; and their nobles shall be of themselves ; 
and their Governor shall proceed from the midst of them." 3 
The proceedings of the day were, finally, given balance and 
completeness by an " entertainment" in Fanueil Hall, with 
its round of thirteen toasts. 

The formal installation of the government under the 
first constitution of the commonwealth having been thus ef- 
fected, 4 the more detailed work was at once begun. On the 
last day of the month, the house and the council appointed 
a committee to inform the governor that they were organ- 
ized and ready to proceed to business. 5 The governor on 
the same day formally addressed the legislative bodies in an 

• 

l A letter to Samuel Adams, dated September 3, 1780, states: "To-morrow 
will probably usher in the first election of Government, under the New plan 
.... Lieut. Gvr. probably Cushing, your friend Warren however is a Candidate, 
But he has too much integrity, steadiness, consistency, & the genuine principles 
of a republican to make much head in times like these." Adams Papers, Ban- 
croft Collection. 

2 Cf. Samuel Adams, Philadelphia, October 17, 1780, to his wife: "I had 
reason to believe that Mr. Hancock would be the Governor. I am disposed to 
think, that my Fellow Citizens^ had upright Views in giving him their Suffrages. 
Many Circumstances have combined to make his election appear to be politically 
necessary; . . . ." A variation reads: " honest and upright." Adams Papers, 
Bancroft Collection. 

3 Bullock, Centennial of the Constitution, 35. 

4 An account of the inauguration, with a list of the members of the new as- 
sembly, appeared in Boston Gazette, no. 1366, October 30, ,1780. 

5 Mass. Archives, 229 : 455. 



2 79] G ° VERNMENT IN MASS A CHUSE TTS 2 79 

inaugural, bearing largely upon matters naturally incident to 
such an occasion. 1 With the completion of the preliminary 
routine the new officers of government entered upon the 
regular and active performance of their functions, and the 
transition was virtually completed. Much, to be sure, re- 
mained to be accomplished. The completion of the judi- 
ciary establishment and the organization of the executive 
department were still to be effected ; but all essentials were 
attained in the constitution which provided, either directly 
or by definite delegation, for the exercise of all powers of 
government, and which afforded an ample basis for subse- 
quent development. The consideration of that development 
involves the history of Massachusetts from the time of the 
establishment of the commonwealth to the present day. 2 

J The address was printed in Boston Gazette, no. 1367, November 6, 1780. 

2 The reader should consult /he pamphlet of 67 pages, Constitution of the Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts. Published by the Secretary of the Comt?ionwealth. 
Boston, i8g6, which gives the various amendments and cites numerous judicial 
decisions bearing upon the constitution. 



280 FROM PROVINCIAL TO COMMONWEALTH [ 2 8o 



NOTE 

The following list is given as a means of identification and not as a bibliography. 
More newspaper and manuscript collections than indicated have been consulted, 
although not used in the present work. It should be stated also that practically 
everything in print bearing upon this period, both in Massachusetts and in the 
other colonies, has been consulted; secondary material, however, has proved of 
little service. Use has been made of the libraries of the American Antiquarian 
Society, the Connecticut Historical Society, the Essex Institute, Harvard Univer- 
sity, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the New York Historical Society, the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and of the libraries of several other corpora- 
tions, as well as of the Library of Congress. Especial mention should be made 
of ample facilities accorded by the staff of the Lenox Library, now merged in The 
New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Certain cita- 
tions from the Adams Papers are necessarily incomplete, but more detail would be 
of little value, as the collection is soon to be rearranged and improved. 

LIST OF TITLES 

A. Manuscripts, original and copied 

The volumes indicated by the first seven titles are in the Lenox Library of The 
New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. For detailed 
description, see Sabin, J. Y., Library of the late Hon. George Bancroft, n. p. [1892]. 

Samuel Adams Papers, 9 vols. 

Joseph Hawley Papers, 2 vols. 

Letters of Thomas Hutchinson to Israel Williams, I vol. 

Revolutionary Correspondence, 3 vols. 

Ezra Stiles Papers, 1 vol. 

Autograph Letters of Joseph Warren, 1 vol. 

W. V. Wells Papers, Samuel Adams and the American Revolution, 3 vols. 

Lincoln Papers. Transcripts from town records of Mass., collected by Wm. 
Lincoln, in the Library of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 

Massachusetts Archives. A Collection of Original Documents, in the Bureau 
of Archives, Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston, Mass. 

Sparks Papers. A Collection of Documents formed by Jared Sparks, in the 
Harvard College Library. See Library of Harvard University. Bibliographical 
Contributions, edited by Justin Winsor, Librarian. No. 22. Calendar of the 
Sparks Manuscripts in Harvard College Library, by Justin Winsor. Cam- 
bridge, 1889. 

Stevens, B. F. Facsimiles of Manuscripts in European Archives Relating to 
America, 177 3- 1783, with Descriptions, Editorial Notes, Collations, References, 
and Translations. London, 1889- A copy is in the Library of Columbia 
University. 



2 8 1 ] GO VERNMEN T IN MASSA CHUSE TTS 2 8 1 

B. Newspapers 

Boston Evening Post, The. T. and J. Fleet, Boston. 

Boston Gazette, and the Country Journal, The. Edes and Gill [Benj. Edes; 
Benj. Edes and Sons.] Boston [Watertown]. 

Connecticut Courant, The. [ The Connecticut Courani, and Hartford Weekly 
Intelligencer. ~\ Eben. Watson [Watson and Goodwin] Hartford. 

Connecticut Gazette ; and the Universal Intelligencer. [The New London 
Gazetted] Timothy Green, New London. 

Connecticut Journal, and New Haven Post-Boy, The. [The Connecticut 
Journal.] T. and S. Green, New Haven. 

Continental Journal, and Weekly Advertiser, The. J. Gill, Boston. 

Essex Gazette, The. \_New England Chronicle ; or, the Essex Gazette, The. 
New England Chronicle, The. Independent Chronicle, The, q v.] S. and E. 
Hall [Powars and Willis], Salem [Cambridge, Boston]. 

Essex Journal and New Hampshire Packet, The. [The Essex Journal.'] J. 
Mycall and H. W. Tinges [J. Mycall], Newburyport. 

Freeman's Journal, or New Hampshire Gazette, The. Benj. Dearborn, Ports- 
mouth. 

Independent Chronicle, The. [Independent Chronicle & Universal Advertiser, 
The.] Powars and Willis [Nath'l Willis], Boston. 

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post Boy and Advertiser, The. Mills and 
Hicks, Boston. 

Masiachuselts, Gazette and the Boston Weekly News Letter, The. Richard 
Draper [Margaret Draper], Boston. 

Massachusetts Spy, The. [ The Massachusetts Spy or, 'Thomas' Boston Journal. 
The Massachusetts Spy ; or, American Oracle of liberty.] I. Thomas, Boston 
[Worcester]. 

New England Chronicle, The. Powars and Willis, Boston. 

New York Journal ; or, the General Advertiser, The. J. Holt, New York. 

New } ork Packet, and the American Advertiser, The. S. Loudon, New York. 

Pennsylvania Evening Post, The. Benj. Towne, Philadelphia. 

Rivington's New York Gazetteer; or the Connecticut, New Jersey, Hudson's 
River and Quebec Weekly Advertiser. [Rivington's Gazette, or the Connecticut, 
Hudson's River, New Jersey and Quebec Weekly Advertiser. Rivington's New 
York Loyal Gazette. Rivington's A T ew York Royal Gazette.] J. Rivington, New 
York. 

Salem Gazette, and A T ewbury and Marblehead Advertiser, The. E. Russell, 
Salem. 



APPENDIX 

A. Educational Institutions attended by the author 
Boston Latin School, 1 882-1 885. 
Holyoke, Mass., High School, 1885-1887. 
Amherst College, 1887-1891. 
Columbia University, 1893-1895. 

B< Degrees and Appointments 
A. B., 1 89 1, Amherst College. 
A. M., 1894, Columbia University. 

Instructor in History and Latin, Beloit, Wis., College Academy, 
1891-1893. 
University Fellow in History, Columbia University, 1 894-1 895. 
Prize Lecturer on History, Columbia University, 1895-1896. 
Assistant in History, Barnard College, 1895- 
Tutor in History, Columbia University, 1896- 



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